Il faut que je t'aime
by Bad Mum
Summary: Bill and Fleur. 75 prompts. For the Aboard the Love Boat Challenge.
1. Silent

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Silent_

He has never known the Castle so quiet. All the time he was here at school there was some sort of noise – students in the corridors, murmurs from classrooms and common rooms, people in portraits talking and shouting to each other, Filch and Mrs Norris on the prowl, the ghosts, Peeves. Tonight even Peeves is silent.

He hurries down the Grand Staircase and through the Entrance Hall. He sees no one. He might be the only person in the place. He runs through the silent grounds, averting his gaze from the Quidditch pitch with the high hedges surrounding it, trying to concentrate on what he has to do. As soon as he is beyond the protective wards around the boundaries, he can Disapparate and find his father. Dumbledore was adamant. You Know Who is back. They need to mobilise the opposition to him as quickly as possible.

He is trying to concentrate on what he has to do so that he does not have to think too much about what happened earlier. Harry appearing from out of the maze with Cedric – Cedric's _body_ – in his arms. And Harry's story of the graveyard, the Death Eaters – and You Know Who returning. He is old enough to remember the first war. Although his parents tried to shield him from it, it was impossible for him and Charlie not to understand some of what was going on. And now it is beginning again…

He barely knew Cedric – he met him at the Quidditch World Cup briefly, but that was all. But it angers him that someone who was young and brave and – hell – just in the wrong place at the wrong bloody time - should be blasted out of existence like that.

And Harry – he's only a kid, younger than _Ron_ for Godric's sake. He shouldn't have had to go through that. _No one _should have to go through what Harry had been through today.

He barely remembers the existence of the other Triwizard Champions – Viktor Krum and the French girl. He cannot prevent himself from thinking about Harry and Cedric, however much he might like to, but the others are irrelevant. He has no thoughts to spare for them.


	2. Soap

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Soap_

She stands in the shower in the Beauxbatons carriage and soaps herself for the third time. She might be clean, but she does not feel it.

She barely remembers what happened to _her _in the maze. She got past those ridiculous Skrewts with an Immobilising spell, she knows that, but then… She remembers a Stunning spell coming at her from nowhere (she still does not understand where it came from), and then blackness until she was up on the stands with Madame Maxime's arm around her, feeling sick and dizzy. She saw Viktor carried out of the maze. Then it seemed to be hours and hours before anything else happened.

She turns the water up hotter, as hot as she can bear. Don't think about it. Don't think about it.

Harry. Harry crying and clutching… Cedric. Dead. Cedric who was so kind to her, so brave, so handsome. Someone whom her mother would call "un vrai gentilhomme anglais". How can he be dead? She does not understand what happened.

The rumours say The One They Must Not Name is back. But how can he be? How can that be true? This was a school competition. How can he have come back through a school competition, however prestigious?

But Cedric _is_ dead. She cannot make sense of it.

She soaps herself again. Don't think about it. Think about something else. Think about something else.

Some_one_ else. She wonders who he was – that man with Harry earlier. It seems like days rather than hours ago. Long red hair, leather jacket, dragon skin boots – and _so _good-looking.

She sighs as she rinses herself for the last time and switches off the shower. It does not matter who he was. She will never see him again anyway.


	3. River

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_River_

He does not want to leave. He has worked here for almost six years, ever since leaving school. The pyramids, the tombs, the River – they are what he knows, what he loves. Working in London – even as a curse breaker still – will not compare.

He looks out over the familiar landscape. The night is clear and full of stars. There is a full moon. It is nearly as bright as by daylight. He can see the ruined pyramid where he and Hasani and Lukasz have been working. They are so close – so close – to getting into the central tomb. Just one set of booby traps and obstacles to get past, and they will be there. But he will not. Hasani and Lukasz will get there without him. He is going home.

Except that it is this place that feels like home to him now. He averts his eyes from the pyramid and looks out over the River. Everything here comes back to the River. The Nile, of course, though to those who live and work here it is just the River, always with a capital letter. They travel on it (even the wizards who have other ways of getting about); relax by it; inhale its stench every day. It is the lifeblood of this desert land.

He will miss it more than anything.


	4. Palace

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Palace_

Beauxbatons is comfortably familiar, but it does not feel like home any more. She no longer belongs. Too much has happened.

Those who stayed behind here have moved on, but not in the same way that she has done. They have had the familiar pattern of lessons and leisure and laughter. They are older, more grown up, but they have not changed as she has done. She feels much older than any of them.

Of course, the others know what happened at Hogwarts – although she suspects that all most of them have really taken in is the fact that she came last in the Tournament. They cannot be expected to know that that hardly matters now. And the rumours about the return of The One They Must Not Name seem even less real here than they did at Hogwarts. Her friends - Amalie, Marie-Claude, Cécile, Hélène, Alain, Pierre – they hear what she tells them, but they _do not understand_. No one understands, not even those who were in England with her.

(Though she is not even sure herself exactly what it is she wants – needs – them to understand. That the Tournament did not matter? That it was infinitely harder than she thought it would be? That she learnt a lot more about herself than she did about magic? That the world is a much, much bigger place than this little corner of it? Perhaps if she understood it better herself, she would be able to explain, to make them understand too.)

She walks through the familiar passageways before the feast at the end of term. Beauxbatons is so unlike Hogwarts – warmer, brighter, smaller yet feeling more spacious. It is beautiful, but it no longer feels so. She will not be coming back here, and she does not mind as much as she thought she would.

Her schooldays are over.


	5. Socks

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Socks_

"Is that the last one?" Charlie demands, heaving a heavy suitcase onto the bed in Bill's new flat.

"Think so. Thanks Charlie."

"You're welcome. Do I get that drink you promised me now?"

"In a minute." Bill is gazing out of the window with a dissatisfied air.

"What's up?"

Bill sighs. "Nothing."

Charlie grins. "It's not Egypt?"

Bill grins too, somewhat ruefully. "Yeah. That's about it."

Charlie claps him on the shoulder. "It could be worse. You could be living at HQ with the parents."

"Do you know how hard a job I had persuading Mum that I wasn't going to?"

"I can imagine. She doesn't let up sometimes, does she?"

"You could say that. At least I wouldn't have to wash my own socks if I'd given in to her."

"Not worth it, mate. It would definitely cramp your style. You don't want Mum interfering with your love life."

"What love life? Yasmina's still in Egypt, remember."

"Sure. And she's the only girl in the world is she? Cheer up, Bill. There must be some girls worth looking at at Gringotts."

"They probably all look like the goblins."

"Or maybe they don't. And if I know my big brother, he'll have hooked up with the best-looking one in the place within a month."

"Is that a bet or a challenge?"

"Both. Now you owe me a drink. Come on."

Bill sighs, and follows Charlie down the stairs.


	6. Vanilla cake

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Vanilla cake_

She steals two large slabs of vanilla cake – Gabrielle's favourite – and a bottle of homemade Muggle-style lemonade from the kitchen when her mother's back is turned before going to find her little sister.

Persuading her parents that she was going to go and work in England was bad enough – even with the trainee job at Gringotts and somewhere to live lined up before she told them. (They still think of her as a child, no older than Gabrielle. They do not understand why she wants – needs – her independence, her freedom.) Telling Gabrielle that she is going will be worse. Gabrielle had _so _been looking forward to having her idolised big sister back at home at last. Now, Fleur is going to spoil that for her.

"Gabrielle!" she calls, running up the stairs to her sister's pink and white bedroom (too pink for Fleur's own taste, but Gabi likes it). "Come for a picnic with me!"

"A picnic!" Gabrielle's face is alight with excitement, and Fleur suffers a pang of guilt at how she is going to upset her.

"You carry the bag, and I'll carry you!" She piggybacks her sister to the tiny wood at the bottom of their extensive garden. The rest of the garden is formal – too formal, the girls think – here, it is overgrown and _natural. _They drink the lemonade and devour the cake – Gabi eats half of Fleur's piece as well as her own – before Fleur plucks up courage to tell her sister she is leaving next week. Her heart contracts at the way that Gabrielle's face falls at the news.

"You only just came back, and now you are leaving me again!"

It is true. She cannot answer it with anything that will satisfy her sister, because it _is_ true. She is leaving Gabrielle on her own again, and no amount of talking about visits home or Gabi visiting her in England or how exciting it will be to send her souvenirs from London will change that.

She is leaving her home and her family.

She cannot wait.

Gabrielle does not stop crying all day.


	7. Rain

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Rain_

He had forgotten how bloody _persistent_ English rain is, even when it is supposed to be summer. He turns his collar up against it, trying - and failing - to dredge an umbrella charm from the depths of his memory. He hasn't needed one of those in a long time.

The rain does nothing to improve his mood. He had always known that Percy could be an obstinate sod, but to be so utterly _wrong _and refuse to listen to reason is excelling himself. How could he honestly think that the Ministry line was right? Percy knows Harry – better than Bill himself does. How can he possibly believe he's lying? And the things he said to Dad… Bill wonders if he ever really knew his brother. (And whether Percy realises just how close he came to hitting him earlier.)

He glances at his watch, and quickens his pace. He needs to get back to work.

* * *

"I sought zat it was supposed to be summer!" Fleur complains, as her companion performs an umbrella charm to cover them both.

"Ja, but this is _England_," her companion, a fellow trainee at Gringotts, reminds her. "Mein Vater told me that they do not haff proper veather in England."

"Well, I sink 'e was right," Fleur says, as they hurry up the steps to the front door of Gringotts. They have precisely two minutes of their lunch break left, and their new boss will not be happy if they are late.

A tall red-headed man with his hair in a ponytail reaches the door at the same time as they do. He gives them a slightly distracted smile as he holds the door open for them to precede him. Fleur is sure that she has seen him before, but she cannot place him.


	8. Parchment

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Parchment_

It isn't as bad as he'd feared it might be. There is more paperwork than there was in Egypt of course – not difficult as they'd never actually done any paperwork in Egypt except on the rare occasions when Mr. Boddlicott came out from England to check up that they were achieving something. Then they'd stayed up all night, drunk a lot of Firewhisky and made most of it up. Lukasz had been especially good at it – he had an official-sounding turn of phrase that neither Bill nor Hasani could emulate.

Here, every damn thing has to be documented. But at least he is still doing curse-breaking, even if he has to write it down as he does it. And he is working with his friend Zoran Madic, whom he'd trained with in Egypt, which is a definite bonus.

And of course, there is the Order, the reason he had come back in the first place. Guard duty over Harry (he feels sorry for the poor kid, wishes when it is his turn that he could tell him he is there); trying to sound out the goblins' attitude to You Know Who; meetings at Grimmauld Place; recces to places Death Eaters may be meeting (disappointing so far – their intelligence still leaves something to be desired despite having Snape on the inside).

And Charlie had been right about the girls at Gringotts (even Charlie is right occasionally). They don't all look like the goblins by any means. There are several that he might describe as pretty, even with his exacting standards. And that French girl is here – the one from the Triwizard Tournament - and she is definitely worth looking at. He remembers Harry telling him before the third task that Ron was more than a little besotted with her, and for once he thinks his little brother's judgement might be spot-on.

It is the second week after his return to England when he finally gets to speak to her. They are both crossing the entrance foyer at the same time, and she trips and drops the enormous pile of parchments she is carrying. She looks as if she might cry. He helps her gather them up, and gives her a smile and a wink, and she manages a very watery smile and a murmured "Sank you" in response.

It is not much, but it is something to work on.


	9. Sarcasm

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Sarcasm_

"Of course, if I was as _bee-you-tiful_ as that French cow, I wouldn't bother to get much work done either. Why do they even give jobs to people who can't speak proper English?" Gladys Porlock's audience of three giggle, and Fleur – who has heard, as of course she was meant to – has to pretend that she hasn't.

"Ignore them," Gisela Schenke, the Austrian trainee who started at the same time as Fleur, whispers. "They are yust yealous because you are prettier than they are."

Fleur likes Gisela. Not just because they have something in common in being new and foreign, but because she is a genuinely nice person. She is more popular with the English girls than Fleur is, and it is she – not Fleur – who has worked out why. "I am not efen pretty. You are beautiful. They are yealous off you," she pointed out, when they had been here less than a week.

This is so much harder than Fleur had thought it would be. Not just the English girls' hostility and bitchiness, but the work itself. She had thought her English was pretty good, but she has soon discovered that speaking English well enough to get by at Hogwarts and using it all day every day for work are different things.

Her boss, Miss Payne – everyone calls her The Payne, and Fleur's English is good enough to understand _that _– will not let any mistakes pass, and has a sarcastic tongue that stings when she reprimands those under her – as she does numerous times a day. "Really, Miss Delacour, I would have thought your English was better than _that_"; "I know you are used to more attention as a _Triwizard Champion_, but you're no better than anyone else here, my girl"; "Please pay more attention to your work and less to your appearance, Miss Delacour." Fleur would not mind if the rebukes were justified, but she has an idea that The Payne's remarks are as motivated by jealousy as the other secretaries' more overt hostility.

Gisela has a plan to cheer her up. "We need to find you a boyfriend – preferably a good-looking vun. Give that Gladys something to be properly yealous off, and take your mind off The Payne being horrible."

With that in mind, Gisela is marking all the men in the bank out of ten, and insisting that Fleur join in. Fleur points out that Gisela _has _a boyfriend at home in Vienna, and should not be looking at other men in that way.

"Ach, vot Gottfried doess not know vill not hurt him. Frank Noble?"

Fleur pulls a face. "Five."

"You are generous. I vould say three. David Ziebler? I say seven."

"Yes, I sink zat is right. Zoran Madic?"

"Eight."

"Oui. Eight. Delloran Gumble?"

"Gott in Himmel! Vun, and that is being kind. Bill Weasley?"

Fleur can feel herself blushing. "Ten."

"Only ten? I think at least tvelve."

"Gisela! You 'ave a boyfriend!"

They giggle like a pair of schoolgirls. And for once, Miss Payne's sarcastic admonitions are fully justified.


	10. Honeyduke's Best Chocolate

If you've read my other Bill/Fleur fic "Chocolate and Ginger", this chapter will be familiar. Because I have a slightly obsessive need for my stories to agree with each other, this is a shorter re-write of the first chapter of that. I hope it works in this form!

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Honeyduke's Best Chocolate_

She has had enough. She has had enough of the other secretaries' jealousy and bitchiness. She has had enough of Miss Payne's constant undeserved criticism. She has had enough of struggling to put everything she says into English instead of just _saying _it. She has had enough of going home to an empty flat every night.

She wants to see her mother and father. She wants a good gossip with Amalie or Marie-Claude. She wants to race round the garden at home with Gabrielle, allowing her little to sister win, but not letting on that she has done so.

She wants to go home.

Gisela is taking the minutes in a meeting. (Miss Payne will trust Gisela to do this, but not Fleur, though her English is no better than Fleur's is.) Gladys Porlock is absent today, and without their ringleader most of the English girls are ignoring Fleur. The Payne is upstairs talking to one of the goblins. No one is taking any notice of Fleur, as she sits at her desk crying.

Or so she thinks.

"Why are you crying?" a voice asks. She looks up, and it is Bill Weasley. _Bill Weasley. _Why does _he _have to be the one to see her crying?

She denies that she is, even when he persists. He shrugs and leaves her to it.

_Merde._

But he is back within five minutes, laying a bar of Honeyduke's chocolate on her desk. He says his sister swears it helps to cheer you up. Fleur remembers his sister – the red-headed girl at Hogwarts. He has brothers too - Harry's friend and those ridiculous twins. Suddenly, she wants him to stay. Not just because he is good-looking (Gisela was right – _at least _twelve out of ten), but because he is kind; he is treating her as a human being. She asks about his family, and they share the chocolate. They talk about the Tournament too, which almost makes her start crying again. But she realises that that is where she has seen him before – the thought that she knew him from somewhere has been driving her mad, because she could _not _place him. He was at Hogwarts for the last task – with Harry.

When he asks her for the third time why she was crying, she tells him. He is sympathetic. He seems to really understand how it feels.

She asks him if _he _believes that The One They Must Not Name is really back, and he says that he does.

Then they are interrupted by The Payne's harsh voice, and Fleur knows that she is in trouble again. But Bill is quicker than she is, hiding the chocolate in her desk drawer and making some excuse that the older woman accepts. He scribbles something on a parchment and winks at Fleur as he straightens up and leaves.

She reads the note when Miss Payne has gone: _"I'll meet you outside after work. You need to be introduced to English beer as well as English chocolate. B.W."_

Fleur wipes her eyes, smiles to herself, and turns to the paperwork that now does not seem quite so bad.


	11. Sunset

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Sunset_

She has no idea where they are, but she has to admit that it is beautiful. Bill met her as promised outside Gringotts after work and brought her here by side-along. They are sitting in the garden of a Muggle pub, with a thatched roof and roses round the door, and he says it is in Devon. She thought that places like this only existed in pictures on chocolate boxes or postcards, and she has no idea where in England Devon is. (She doesn't like to ask, and thinks she will look it up later if she remembers.)

They have been eating – chicken and chips for him, a chicken salad for her – and he has a pint of something called Old Peculier in front of him (she was sure he was fooling her with that name, but he assures her it really is called that) while she is drinking white wine. He kept his promise earlier, and insisted on introducing her to what he called "proper English beer", but she cannot imagine why anyone would voluntarily drink something that tastes like that.

They have been talking about anything and nothing – work, their families, their schooldays, their friends, their homes. She has managed to talk about the Tournament for the first time since Cedric died without wanting to burst into tears. He has told her about his work in Egypt. She feels as if she has known him forever, and is not even self-conscious when her English lets her down and they have to struggle to fully understand each other. He laughs about it, and says he will need to give her English lessons on a regular basis.

Now they are sitting in companionable silence, watching the sun set behind the hills. The darkening sky is streaked with gold and scarlet and orange. It is beautiful.

He reaches across the table and takes her hand, and she almost doesn't notice because it feels so right.

The sun disappears beneath the horizon and he leans across and kisses her gently.

Her dreams that night are a blaze of orange and gold and she is smiling when she wakes in the morning.

* * *

_A/N There really is a beer called "Old Peculier", and it is spelt like that!_


	12. Blood Pops

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Blood pops_

Gisela dumps two small white paper bags on Fleur's desk. They have ten minutes before work officially starts and The Payne will be nagging them again.

"I thought you might need cheering up," she says. "But by the look on your face, I am vasting my time and you do not need it. Vot did I miss while I vos in that meeting yesterday?"

"'Oo did you miss, I sink you mean," Fleur says, smiling tantalisingly, and opening one of the bags. "Bill Weasley gave me chocolate and zen…. Gisela! Qu'est-ce que c'est? What ees zis?"

Gisela giggles. "They are called 'Bloot Pops'. I thought my English vos letting me down, but the man in the shop said that is vot they are."

"_Blood pops?_ You are not serieuse? 'Ow 'orreeble. I sink zat ze Eengleesh are quite mad."

"You're probably right," says Bill's voice behind them. "You weren't planning on eating those, I hope?" He leans over Fleur's desk and picks up one of the lollipops, regarding it with distaste.

"Are zey as deesgusteeng as zey look?" asks Fleur, trying not to blush, and feeling Gisela's eyes on both of them, speculating about what is going on and quite what she missed yesterday.

"Worse, actually," Bill says with a grin. "I'd keep them to show people at home how strange the English are. Don't eat them, whatever you do."

"Do they really have bloot in them?" asks Gisela.

"I've never liked to ask. Wouldn't surprise me though," he says, smiling at her. (Though neither Fleur nor Gisela fail to notice that his gaze switches back to Fleur almost immediately.)

Zoran Madic appears at the door. "There you are Weasley! Stop chatting up the poor innocent foreigners and come and do some work, you lazy sod! We have four jewel chests and a casket to open before lunchtime, in case you've forgotten."

"I was trying to forget that," Bill says, straightening up. His hand brushes Fleur's shoulder as he does so, accidentally-on-purpose. Gisela does not fail to notice, though Zoran Madic seems oblivious.

When they are gone, Gisela leans over and helps herself to a chocolate from the second paper bag. "Tell me efferything," she commands.


	13. Dragonfly

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Dragonfly_

That Saturday, Bill takes her on a picnic. They sit beside a stream set amongst rolling green hills, and eat bread and pate, peaches and sponge cake. There is a village nestled in the valley below them, and the sun is shining.

"What do you call zis bread? Eet ees baguette en Francais," she says, as she takes another piece, and Bill leans over to pour her more apple juice.

He grins. "French bread."

She frowns at him. It is hard to tell sometimes if he is serious or not. The look in his eyes at the moment reminds her of the twins.

"I do not beeleeve you," she says, frowning.

"It's true! It really is. Why don't you trust me?" He is trying to look offended, but failing because he is laughing.

"I 'ave met Fred and George."

"Now that really _isn't _fair. You can't judge the whole family by the twins."

She laughs, and permits him to put his arm around her shoulders. "Okay zen, I weell beeleeve you zis once. Qu' est-ce que c'est que ca then? What ees zat eensect by ze water? La libellule?"

"La _what_?"

"La libellule? Zere, at ze edge of ze river by ze – oh, I do not know what zey are called eezer. I am tired of speaking Eengleesh all ze time."

"By the rushes? It's a dragonfly."

"_Dragon _fly?" She makes two words of it. "Eet does not look anysing like a dragon. I weell not beeleeve you zis time. Eet cannot be called zat."

"It is," he protests, laughing, and then kissing her while she is so busy thinking about the horrors of the English language that she has no time to object.

"Eengleesh is ze most 'orreeble language. I weell never learn it!" she wails.

He kisses her again. "Oh, I think you will, Fleur. I just need to give you more lessons."


	14. Stairs

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Stairs_

There are so many stairs at Gringotts, and sometimes she thinks that she spends half her day going up and down them.

"Miss Delacour, take this up to Mr. Gumble to sign."

_(Ugh. Mr. Gumble, the head curse-breaker, is old and ugly and always leers at her.)_

"Miss Delacour, fetch those letters from Mr. Noble's office please."

_(Frank Noble is okay, although the way he undresses her with his eyes is a bit obvious.)_

"Go upstairs and ask Ragnok for the June treasure figures."

_(Might be good or bad. If Ragnok is in a good mood, he will come as close to smiling as a goblin ever does, and hand over the figures with no argument. If he is in a bad mood, he will not give them to her as a matter of principle, will find something to complain about in her manner or her appearance, and Miss Payne will shout at her when she goes back downstairs.)_

"Go and ask Mr. Weasley and Mr. Madic for their reports from last week please. We should have had them yesterday."

_(That figures. Bill and Zoran never hand in their paperwork on time. But any excuse to see Bill is a good one, even if they are formal and discreet at work and call each other "Mr. Weasley" and "Miss Delacour" when anyone else is around. So far only Zoran and Gisela know there is anything going on between them, though Gladys Porlock and her cronies have their suspicions.)_

Bill invents an excuse to come downstairs with her after he and Zoran have handed over their neglected paperwork. They manage to have a conversation on the stairs that would look innocent and proper enough to anyone not paying attention, but which actually consists of him telling her how beautiful she looks today and her trying not to giggle. He brushes her hand with his as they part at the foot of the stairs.

Gladys looks up suspiciously as Fleur enters and hands the parchments to Miss Payne, but Bill passes the door to the secretaries' room without a backward glance at Fleur. Gladys frowns. Perhaps she is imagining things.


	15. Secret

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Secret_

She meets him in the lunch hour outside a boarded up shop a little way along Diagon Alley. With that _vâche horrible_ Gladys watching her every move, and setting her own sights on Bill, Fleur would prefer it if no one at Gringotts knew there was anything going on between her and Bill, at least for the time being. Gladys has it in her to be even more nasty than she is already if she realised she had a genuine reason to be jealous of Fleur.

Bill takes her hand and Apparates the pair of them to a square in the centre of Muggle London, surrounded by tall creamy coloured houses, with yards in front but no railings. (He says the Muggles melted all the railings down more than fifty years ago to make weapons for one of their wars.) The square is green and shady and cool despite the hot summer sun. They eat their sandwiches on a bench under a tree and share a flask of tea. (Fleur still prefers coffee, but Bill tells her she has to develop a taste for tea if she is going to live in England.)

"Weell I see you zis evening?" she asks, trying not to sound too needy. (But evenings on her own in her tiny flat are long and lonely.)

He sighs and shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Fleur, I can't tonight. I wish I could but…" (He would much rather spend the evening with her than doing guard duty over Harry, but he has no choice. And he hates the fact he must not tell her why he cannot see her tonight.)

"But you 'ave sings to do," she finishes for him impatiently. "And you weell not tell me what zey are. I know."

"I'm sorry, Fleur. Really. We'll go out tomorrow, I promise."

"Okay. Weell you take me to a Muggle film? Zey are good for my Eengleesh."

He laughs. "That rather depends on the film, I think. But okay, if you want to." He looks at his watch. "We need to get back."

Fleur makes a face, but stands up, shaking the crumbs from her skirt. He takes her hand and Apparates them back to Diagon Alley.

He hates the fact that there are secrets between them.

They both do.


	16. Thirteen

Because Cassandra was quite right - Fleur _should_ be suspicious!

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Thirteen_

Thirteen days.

Thirteen days since that day when they shared the chocolate, and he took her to that pub in Devon. (She looked it up. Devon is in the south west. British geography is _hard_ though.)

Thirteen days, six dates, five days they've eaten lunch together, lots of exchanged smiles when no one is looking at work, numerous excuses to go up to the curse-breakers' floor when she doesn't really need to, "accidental" meetings on the stairs or in the corridors…

Thirteen days.

_Six days he has said he can't seen her, and not given her a good reason. _

He doesn't have to give her a reason. It's less than a fortnight since their first date. They're hardly committed to each other.

_She feels committed to him._

But perhaps he doesn't feel about her as she does about him. Perhaps she is making too much of this relationship.

_Perhaps he has someone else._

He can't have. He has only been back in England four weeks.

_But he might have had a girlfriend back home while he was in Egypt._

No. There can't be anyone else. He's not that type of person.

_How does she know? How does she know what type of person he is? She's only known him thirteen days._

She wishes he would tell her the truth.

Thirteen days. Six dates, five lunches, smiles at work, excuses to Miss Payne, accidental-on-purpose meetings…

_Six days he has said he can't see her._

_She wants to know why._

Thirteen days.


	17. Cheating

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Cheating_

She meets David Munster in Bettina Bewlock's Bakery while she is in there buying a pasty for her tea. (She should cook something healthier, but she is not in the mood for cooking.) She remembers David from last year – a serious, not bad-looking Ravenclaw in his final year, whom she had actually managed to have several proper conversations with during her time at Hogwarts. (That in itself makes him memorable. So many of the Hogwarts boys could see no further than her beauty and were reduced to gibbering idiots in her presence.)

He looks surprised – and pleased – to see her, and they start talking. He had not known she was in England. He is training as a Healer at St. Mungo's and says it is hard work, but enjoyable. Hesitantly, he asks her if she is doing anything that evening, and whether she would go for a meal with him.

Well, why not? Bill has let her down at no notice at all. They were going out, but when he met her in the usual place after work, he said that "something had come up" and he couldn't make it after all. He was very apologetic, but would not tell her why. (He said _could_ not, but she is getting tired of his excuses that are not excuses.) It is the third night this week he has not been able to see her. The long evenings on her own in the flat are made so much worse by wondering what he is doing, who he is with.

So she smiles at David and says yes. They go to a Muggle restaurant and eat Chinese food and share a bottle of red wine. He is easy to talk with, attentive, kind.

_But he is not Bill._

As he is walking her home along Diagon Alley, she catches a glimpse of Bill outside Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour. He is with a girl – nearer his age than Fleur is herself (but not nearly as beautiful she tells herself, though that thought doesn't seem to help much). They both have their wands in their hands, and look tense and unhappy, but Fleur cannot see past the fact that Bill is with _another_ _girl_.

She turns away abruptly and does not see a second man – older, greying, shabby – joining the pair by Fortescue's.

(But Bill looks up as she and David pass, and he sees them.)


	18. Masochism

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Masochism_

Fleur is prepared to feel guilty when she sees Bill at work the next day. She is not prepared for him to walk past the secretaries' room without even glancing in her direction.

Now she is angry. She has every right to be cross with him, but why is _he_ ignoring _her_? (Unless he saw her with David? But he can't have done. He was too absorbed with _that girl_.)

_Bill is not prepared for how bad he feels about this. He and Fleur have been going out for less than three weeks. They never said they couldn't see anyone else. But he had assumed they wouldn't. Obviously Fleur doesn't feel the same. _

_Damn._

_Damn, damn, damn._

_He can't bring himself to talk to her. He doesn't know what to say._

_For the first time since he was seventeen, Bill Weasley has _no idea_ what to say to a girl._

_He avoids her all day. Although she makes several excuses to go up to the curse- breakers' floor, he manages to disappear every time he sees her coming. _

They had arranged to meet in the usual place after work, and she is afraid that he will not turn up.

He nearly doesn't. But after she has been waiting nearly half an hour, and is wondering whether to give up and go home, he arrives, a grim look on his face.

"Who was he? That boy you were with last night?" he demands abruptly, without greeting her or meeting her eyes, and Fleur is suddenly more furious than she has been all day.

"'Ow dare you?" she spits out angrily. "_You _cancelled on me at no notice at all, and zen you ask me 'oo I am wiz? What about zat girl _you_ were wiz? I saw you wiz 'er outside ze ice cream shop. 'Ow dare you question me? 'Oo was _she_?"

Bill is suddenly very pale. "Tonks?" he asks. "You saw me with Tonks?"

"What? Je ne comprend pas. What ees 'Tonks'?"

Bill shakes his head impatiently. "It's her name," he explains quietly. "Her surname. Everyone calls her it because she hates her first name. And I wasn't with her – or I was, but it's not how you think. We-we had a job to do. She's nothing more than a friend. And we weren't on our own, there was someone else with us. You must not have seen him."

"A zhob? What sort of zhob? Why weell you not tell me ze truce?" Fleur is still furious (although she is fighting back the tears she is _not _going to give Bill the satisfaction of seeing he has caused).

"I can't tell you. You know I can't."

"Tu m'as dis cela déjà beaucoup de fois. Eet is not enough any more, Bill. Why will you not tell me what ees arriving?" Her French accent is becoming stronger, and she is losing her command of English as she becomes more upset.

He sighs. This is getting them nowhere. They are going round in circles hurting themselves and each other. Suddenly, he has an idea. He reaches out a hand to Fleur.

"Come with me?" he asks. "Trust me this once, Fleur. I want-I want to show you something."

For a minute, he thinks she will not go with him, that he has lost her already, but after what seems an eternity, she takes his hand, and allows him to Apparate the pair of them. She has no idea why she is trusting him. Her mother, Amalie, Marie-Claude, probably even Gisela, would tell her she is mad to do so, but something tells her to give him this one last chance.


	19. Portrait

**

* * *

**

Il faut que je t'aime

_Portrait_

They Apparate in an alley in a Muggle area of London where Fleur has never been before. She frees her hand from Bill's immediately, demanding to know where they are.

"Muswell Hill. I live round the corner."

"We are going to your flat?" Fleur asks suspiciously.

"Yeah, if that's okay." Bill sighs in frustration. How have they got to the point where she no longer trusts him? "I just want to show you something, Fleur. That's all. I promise."

"Okay." Fleur is stifling the thought of what Amalie or Marie-Claude (or worse, her mother) would think about this, but she goes with Bill as he leads her to a tall house with peeling paintwork and several doorbells. He lets them in, and they go up two flights of stairs to his flat. He takes her into the small living room, and asks if she wants a cup of tea.

(What the hell is it with the English and tea?)

"No," she tells him, impatiently. "I zhust want to know what you are going to show me. I am seeck of playing games wiz you."

"Okay. I won't be a minute."

He leaves the room, and is back in a short while carrying a framed photo which he hands to her wordlessly. She recognises where it was taken – outside Fortescue's ice cream parlour. Two red-haired boys are sitting at a table with large chocolate sundaes in front of them. They are flanked by two young men, also red-haired, and also eating ice creams. All four are smiling and waving, clearly having a good time.

"Zat is you?" Fleur asks, pointing to the taller of the boys.

Bill nods. "And that's Charlie. The next one down from me."

"Ze dragon tamer? I met 'im after ze first task in ze tournament. 'Oo are ze men? Is one of zem your fazzer?"

Bill shakes his head. "No. My uncles, Fabian and Gideon. Mum's brothers. Charlie and I adored them. And they spoiled us rotten."

"So? What 'as zat got to do wiz us? Why are you showing me zis, Bill?"

He shakes his head in exasperation. "I am trying to explain, but there is so much I can't tell you." He hesitates, swallows, and continues, choosing his words carefully. "Fabian and Gideon were – they were killed a few days after that picture was taken."

"_Keelled?_ 'Oo keelled zem?"

"Death Eaters. You Know Who's people. Fabian and Gideon were involved in fighting him during the first war, and a lot – perhaps most – of the people who did that didn't survive."

Her eyes widen. "What are you telling me, Bill? Zat zat is what you are eenvolved wiz now? Wiz fighting You Know 'Oo?"

"I can't _tell _you that, Fleur." Bill's eyes are imploring her to understand, and amazingly, she seems to.

"Zat girl – Tonks? She ees eenvolved een zis too? Zat is why you were wiz 'er?"

He nods. "Last night – well, some people don't like the fact that Florean Fortescue's mother is Muggleborn – or that he serves Muggleborns and blood traitors in the ice cream parlour." He stops abruptly, and turns away from her, looking out of the window, but not seeing anything except the hooded figures they managed to deter the previous night before any damage was done. He shakes himself and continues. "I'm trusting you, Fleur. I've told you far more than I should have done. Several people would hex me all the way back to Egypt if they knew. And my mother would murder me…"

Suddenly, it all makes sense to Fleur. (Although it frightens her too. The war is abruptly very real. Something that might affect _her_.)

She gets up and walks over to where Bill is standing by the window, putting her arms round him. "I understand," she whispers. "I am sorry for not trusting you. And about Daveed – but I was lonelee."

"I know. I'm sorry too." Bill buries his face in her silvery hair and inhales her scent. He has not lost her after all.

The picture lies forgotten on the settee behind them.

* * *

_A/N Thanks to Steph (MBP) for her input on this chapter._

_I know it's a picture, not a portrait, but I seem to be specialising in tenuous links to the prompts..._

_If anyone is interested (and in the spirit of my obsession with my fics agreeing), this chapter links with my oneshot "Rainbows End"._


	20. Cheese

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Cheese_

It is five o' clock in the morning a few days later, and Bill lets himself quietly into 12 Grimmauld Place and makes his way to the kitchen in search of something to eat. He has just settled himself wearily at the kitchen table with a plate of toasted cheese and a mug of tea, when he is joined by Fred and George, who are stuffing something into a cloth bag and who look decidedly put out at the sight of their eldest brother.

"What are you doing here?" demands one of them. (Fred, Bill thinks, but he is tired from having been up all night, and slightly out of practice with the twins, so he may be wrong.)

"Eating toasted cheese. Why the hell are you two up so early?" Bill looks at the bag in the other twin's hand suspiciously.

George (if it is George) dumps the bag in the corner, and grins. "Ask no questions, and you won't have to lie to Mum about it later," he says. "Haven't you got a flat of your own to go to?"

"Yeah, but I didn't get round to getting any food in. Besides, this is nearer work, and I have to be there in…" Bill looks at his watch and groans, "…less than four hours."

"Where have you been all night then?" asks the twin who might be Fred, making a grab for a slice of Bill's toast, which his brother fends off with a rapid shield charm.

"Nice try, Fred," he says, half-laughing. "If you think I'm going to tell you where I've been or what I've been doing, you're mental. And get your own breakfast, don't nick mine."

"I'm not Fred, I'm George."

Bill looks at him closely, and shakes his head. "Are you? I'm too tired to work you two out right now."

"He's Fred, I'm George," says the other twin – the one Bill _thought _was George all along - rummaging in the pantry for bread, as Fred makes tea. "Remember us? I think we've met."

"You do look vaguely familiar," Bill concedes.

The twins join him at the table with mugs of tea and plates of toasted cheese of their own. They exchange a look which has Bill wondering resignedly what is coming next. When the twins look like that, it _always _means they are up to something.

"What we want to know…" begins Fred.

"What we _really _want to know…" George continues.

"Is what you were doing in Viggo's Bar the other day with Fleur Delacour?" Fred concludes.

Bill chokes on his tea, and feels himself reddening. "How the hell do you know about that?" he demands.

"Lee Jordan saw you," Fred says. "Spill the beans, brother dear. Tell all."

"Nothing to tell." Bill is trying hard to keep his voice casual. "She's working at Gringotts to improve her English. I'm giving her extra lessons."

The twins have identical smirks on their faces. "_That's _what you call it, is it?" asks George. "Not _exactly _what Lee described …"

"Okay, okay!" Bill has to admit they have him beaten. "We're going out. Just don't say anything to Mum or Dad, or…"

"Or what?" Fred says challengingly, raising his eyebrows.

"Or I'll tell her about that," Bill says, nodding at the bag in the corner. "Not to mention the stack of order forms and Godric knows what else under Ron's bed. Why Ron's bed anyway?"

Fred laughs. "Mum's less likely to look there than under ours. Can't think why she trusts Ickle Ronniekins more than us, but she does. And _Ron_ won't investigate too closely in case there are spiders under there."

Bill laughs too as he stands up and puts his plate and mug in the sink. "You two think of everything," he says. "But I mean it, if you breathe _one word_ about me and Fleur to Mum or Dad, I'll tell Mum just what you have hidden under there. Then I'll murder the pair of you, slowly and painfully. Now, I'm going to make use of the spare bed in Ron's room. If I'm not up by eight thirty, come and wake me up, please."

"We might, if you're lucky," Fred says. But Bill knows that they will.

The sound of the twins' laughter follows him as he goes up the stairs to bed.


	21. Gnomes

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Gnomes_

August is ending on a high note after a week of rainy days. Bill and Fleur have enjoyed a cream tea in a Muggle tea shop in a village that she refuses to believe is really called Ottery St. Catchpole until he takes her to the edge of the village and shows her the road sign. Even then, she is half inclined to think that he must have enchanted the sign when she wasn't looking. (No wonder English is so hard to learn to speak colloquially when even the place names make no sense at all.)

Now they are walking hand in hand over green hills behind the village. Bill seems to know exactly where they are going. They come to the top of a hill and look down towards the oddest looking house Fleur has ever seen. It looks as if it has grown rather than been built, with odd angles and crooked walls and chimneys, and bits added on where no regular house would have them.

"Come on." Bill is tugging at her hand, pulling her down the hill.

"Are we going zere?"

"Uh-huh."

"But why?"

"It's home. I want to show it to you."

(She is glad now that she didn't say out loud how strange-looking she found the house when she first saw it.)

They descend the hill, and when they get near enough he pulls out his wand and mutters the spell to take down the enchanted wards protecting the house and grounds, replacing them immediately they are inside the boundary. He leads her across the overgrown garden; suddenly something nips her ankle painfully and she cries out.

"Bloody gnomes!" Bill grabs the offender and hurls it away over the fence, putting his arm round Fleur's shoulders. "I'm sorry, love. Those things are a menace, and they're probably bored 'cause no one's been here in a while."

"Your parents are not 'ere?" Fleur asks, bending and rubbing her ankle where the gnome bit her.

"No, they're living in London at the moment. Though I think they might come back here once the kids are back at school."

"Zat is next week?" Fleur asks, and he nods.

"But today we have the place to ourselves," he says, opening the back door and standing back so she can precede him through it. "It's not much, but it's home."

She smiles as she enters a kitchen so small that she cannot imagine how it can possibly accommodate a family of nine people. It is completely unlike her own home in France, which is spacious and elegant and _tidy_. None of those words could be applied to this place, but there is an air of familiarity about it that surprises her. She sees Bill smile as she looks around, and she knows what it is. Bill grew up here. So, already somehow to her it feels a bit like home.


	22. Candle

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Candle_

She is used to birthdays away from home, having spent the last seven at school, but being here in England on her birthday is different. At school, she had Amalie and Marie-Claude, Cécile and Hélène, Alain and Pierre, as well as a host of other more casual friends. And Louis, of course, some of the time, though he was two years above her, and their relationship settled naturally into friendship once he left school. (Though she suspects he would have liked it to continue as something more). At school, she had presents and cards and laughter and surprises all day, as well as the cards and gifts her family sent.

Here, she wakes up alone in her tiny flat, and drinks her breakfast coffee black because she has forgotten to buy milk again. There is an owl from her family bringing birthday greetings, but the loving letter from her parents and the hand-drawn card from Gabrielle nearly bring her to tears because she misses them so much.

It is a truly horrible day. Re-reading her parents' letter for the third time makes her late for work, and because she is hurrying, she trips on the Gringotts steps, twisting her ankle and grazing her knee. When she limps to her desk, Gladys is openly laughing at her misfortune, and Miss Payne tells her off for lateness. Gisela gives her a sympathetic smile, and a whispered "Happy birthday", but, when she sees Fleur looking hopefully at the door, has to tell her that Bill went past ten minutes ago, and she has missed him.

She does not see him all day. Delloran Gumble and Evan Boddlicott have decided that today is the day for a curse-breakers review meeting, and none of them emerge from the conference room until late afternoon. When they do, Fleur is absorbed with trying to find a particular receipt for Uglun, one of the more bad-tempered goblins, and sees only a back view of Bill as he and Zoran cross the foyer. She finds the missing receipt at last, but Uglun's strictures about how long it has taken her are the final straw, and she is in tears by the time she gets back to her desk. Fortunately Miss Payne is not there, but Gladys and her friend Mary-Kate are, and they see her crying despite Gisela's valiant efforts to screen her from their view. Their remarks about "poor little French girls who can't cope with proper work" at least have the effect of making Fleur dry her eyes and pretend to be absorbed in her paperwork. She may be horribly homesick, her knee and ankle may be throbbing, she may hate this job and this place with a passion, but she is not going to give _them_ the satisfaction of knowing that.

She is late leaving work because Miss Payne makes her finish some filing that Gladys has left undone and lectures her on her lateness and bad attitude while she is doing it. Fleur feels like crying again, but will not do so in front of The Payne. So she draws herself up to her full height, flicks back her silvery hair and curls her lip in disdain, whilst apparently listening meekly to her boss. At last she escapes, and heads for the boarded up shop at the other end of Diagon Alley where she and Bill meet. His smile of welcome turns into a look of concern as he notices that she is limping and sees the look on her face. He wraps her in his arms, and she buries her face in his chest and sobs for a full five minutes before she can say anything remotely coherent, and then it is a further five minutes before he can decipher the mixture of French and broken English she comes out with and work out what is wrong.

He kisses her forehead and strokes her hair and Apparates the pair of them to his flat, where he settles her in an armchair with a mug of coffee and some chocolate, and performs a healing charm on her ankle and knee. (He learnt a fair number of them during his time in Egypt – curse-breaking is not without its risks). It is not long before she begins to feel better, and she is inclined to be apologetic about making a fuss. But Bill waves away her apologies, and tells her to Floo her parents for a chat while he goes out and gets something for them to eat.

He is back in half an hour with a Chinese takeaway and a bottle of wine, and they laugh and talk and enjoy the meal as much as they would have done if he had taken her out to a restaurant, which was his original plan. When they have finished, Bill disappears into the kitchen and comes back with a large chocolate cake with a single candle in the middle, which he places in front of Fleur with a grin. He tells her to make a wish, and she closes her eyes and does so, as she blows. But the candle relights itself, and she has to try again. By the time she has tried several times, both she and Bill are laughing, and her final attempt ends with the candle exploding and sending a flock of tiny dragonflies and hummingbirds into the air as well as silver sparkles that alight in her already silvery hair. Seeing the look on her face, Bill reflects that it was worth every Sickle the twins extorted from him for the candle.

He leans over and kisses Fleur, and slips a tiny package into her hand. When she unwraps it, she finds a silver charm bracelet with dragonfly, candle, hummingbird and fleur-de-lys charms. She smiles and kisses him again.

It has been a good birthday after all.

* * *

For some reason this chapter took me_ forever_ to write, and turned out the longest one yet. As far as I know JKR has never said when Fleur's birthday is - in my universe, it's at the end of September.

Cyberchocolate for reviewers, and extra if you spot the link between this chapter and "Birthdays and Beyond".


	23. Drawing

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Drawing_

Dear Fleur,

Thank you for your lovely letter. I do like it when you write me a letter all of my very own. I would have liked to see the candle with the hummingbirds and sparkles. Will you get me one for my birthday?

Your "friend" Bill sounds nice, but Maman says she thinks he is more than a friend. Is she right? I have drawn you a picture of what I think he looks like from how you described him (though my picture isn't as nice looking as you say he is, because I'm not that good at drawing).

I miss you. When are you coming home?

Hugs and kisses and lots of love from,

Gabi

* * *

_Dear Gabrielle,_

_I was so pleased to get your letter and the fantastic drawing. I think it looks very like Bill (though perhaps not __quite__ good-looking enough), and he said it looked like him too when I showed it to him. (I hope I was allowed to do that!)_

_Yes, he is more than a friend, and I think he feels the same way about me, but perhaps it would be better if __I__ told Maman that, rather than you doing it…. Bill has five brothers and one sister (and they are all younger than him) - how would you like it if there were seven of us, rather than just you and me?_

_I am not coming home until Christmas – I told you that already, and I'm not changing my mind, however much you nag me! But I have some nice presents for you when I do come, and I am sending you some English toffee for the time being. As for the special candle – it's not your birthday till April, which is ages away, so you will have to wait and see if you get one or not!_

_Amalie told me she saw you and Maman shopping in La Rue du Dragon last week, and that you looked very pretty in your new red coat. Do I get a drawing of that next time? _

_Stroke Madame Annabella-Marie from me, and give her some extra fish when Maman isn't looking._

_Lots of love and hugs and kisses for you, my little sister,_

_Fleur_

* * *

**Charlie,**

**Was that a bet or a challenge about the best-looking girl at Gringotts? Either way, you win…**

**Bill**

* * *

_**Dear Bill,**_

_**Give me details for Merlin's sake! Who's the unlucky lady?**_

_**C.**_

* * *

**Dear Charlie, **

**Remember a certain French girl, and a dragon at the Triwizard...?**

**Bill**

* * *

_**Fleur Delacour?? Blimey, Bill, trust you to get together with a bloody Veela! In that case, it was **__**definitely**__** a bet, and you owe me **__**several**__** drinks next time I see you.**_

_**Charlie**_

_**P.S. Does Mum know? What's it worth not to tell her?**_


	24. Hummingbird

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Hummingbird_

There are still too many evenings that Fleur has to spend on her own, and sometimes knowing – at least to some extent – what Bill is doing, makes it worse. Before, she might imagine that he was with some other girl, or that he didn't want to see her because he didn't care for her as she did for him. But now that she knows that what he is doing could be dangerous, she has more substantial things to concern her. What if he is hurt – or worse? What if his involvement in fighting The One They Must Not Name gets him into trouble with the Ministry? What if he just doesn't turn up for work one day, and she never finds out what has happened?

It is a rainy November evening, and she is alone in her flat above Eeylops. She can hear the owls hooting from the shop below, and it is irritating her unreasonably. She has a half-finished embroidery of a hummingbird on her lap, but she cannot motivate herself to work on it tonight. (She has always loved hummingbirds – she mentioned it to Bill just once, and he remembered and put one on the charm bracelet he gave her for her birthday.) She is fiddling now with the tiny hummingbird charm, wondering where he is, what he is doing, if he is _safe_…

The hummingbird is supposed to be a symbol of joy, he told her, and of looking forward while not regretting the past. But she is scared to look forward. She knows she wants to be with Bill. She knows it with more certainty than she has ever known anything before in her life. But the prospect is frightening. She knows he is committed to the fight against the Dark, that he will not give it up even for her. (That is part of who he is. She would love him less if that were not the case.) But he is in danger, and if she remains with him, she will become involved too. She will not have a choice.

She should have stayed in France, found a boyfriend there who cared nothing for the rumours of You Know Who's return, maybe even gone back to Louis. Then she would have been happy, comfortable, safe. Everything would have been familiar. She would not have been in a tiny flat on her own in a foreign country, wondering, hoping, _praying_ that the person who has come to mean more to her than anyone else is alright, that she will see him at work tomorrow and he will smile at her as he passes, and laugh at her fears when they meet outside the boarded up shop in the evening.

Everything would be so much easier if she had stayed in France.

But she would not have Bill.

She looks at the tiny silver hummingbird on her bracelet and knows that what they have is worth all the worry and fear and loneliness.

She will not regret the past, the might-have-beens.

She will look forward, and if she is afraid, she will try not to show it or to let the fear master her.

She will look forward, and she will do so with hope. Because what she and Bill have is worth it.


	25. Black gloves

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Black gloves_

It is December, and it is wet and cold and _grey_. After six years spent in Egypt, except for occasional brief visits home, Bill is no longer used to the English winter. As he waits for Fleur outside the boarded up shop, he wonders ruefully how he managed to play Quidditch in weather like this when he was at school – and not just play it, but actually _enjoy_ playing it. On days like this, he wishes he was back in Egypt.

Fleur spent last year at Hogwarts, and so has experience of a British winter, but she does not like it much either. She is sure that December in France never has this all-pervading sense of damp and dullness about it. She huddles in her too-thin coat as she hurries along Diagon Alley to meet Bill. She is late again – The Payne made her stay and finish cataloguing some receipts that could easily have waited until tomorrow. Fleur is getting tired of the way Miss Payne picks on her – she would never treat Gladys or Mary-Kate or Tallulah or even Gisela as she treats her – and Fleur is afraid that sooner or later (probably sooner) she will snap and say something to her boss that will land her in serious trouble. The thought does not improve her mood, and she is scowling by the time she reaches the shop.

Bill can see how cold she is even before she reaches him, and he unwinds his scarlet and gold Gryffindor scarf and wraps it round her neck as she gets to him, and pulls off his black knitted gloves and hands them to her wordlessly. She pulls them on, making a face at how much too big for her they are, and he gets out his wand and shrinks them to fit her, before pulling her into his arms and kissing her hard.

"Any warmer?" he asks with a smile as they pull apart, but she scowls and shakes her head.

"I _'ate _ze weazzer in zis country," she complains bitterly. "I seenk I weell go back to France."

He puts his arms round her again and pulls her close. "Please don't. I'd miss you."

"Would you?" Fleur's bad mood is not lifting, and she makes herself go rigid in Bill's arms. She knows it is unfair to be mean to him just because the weather is nasty and because she has had a bad day, but obscurely being unkind is making her feel slightly better. "You would find anuzzer girl soon enough. You do not need me."

She feels his body stiffen and he pulls away from her, and she thinks that she has gone too far, that he will take her at her word and say: _Fine, okay, go back to France if that's what you want. I'll find someone else._

But he doesn't. He holds her shoulders and crouches slightly so he can look straight into her eyes and says: "I don't want another girl, you lovely beautiful idiot. I want _you_. You're the one I love."

And there is a moment of stillness and silence between them, because he has never said that before. (And plenty of others have said it to her because all they can see is the way she looks, and not the person behind the pretty face.) And Fleur looks into Bill's eyes, and she knows that he means it, that he sees_ her_ behind her beauty, and that he would love her even if she looked like poor Gisela. (As she would love him if something happened so that he was no longer the best-looking man she has ever seen – though, of course, she hopes it won't, because she is vain enough to enjoy having a boyfriend whom others envy for his good looks.)

And she swallows, and blinks back tears, and lets him pull her into his arms again, and she whispers, "I love you too, Bill," as his lips meet hers.

It is a long time before they break apart this time, and when they do, neither of them cares about the weather any more.


	26. Fire

_This chapter fits with chapter 2 of "Chocolate and Ginger"._

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Fire_

Fleur is worried.

No, she is more than worried. She is scared stiff, terrified. Why has Bill not come into work this morning? What has happened? He should be here by now. Where is he? Where _is _he? Something must have happened…

By early afternoon she is desperate enough to manufacture an excuse to go up to the curse-breakers' floor and ask Zoran if he knows where Bill is. She is just working up courage to go to Miss Payne for permission, when she hears Bill's voice in the foyer. She nearly sobs aloud in relief, and has to restrain herself from rushing out and flinging her arms around him. He gives her a small smile and a wink as he passes the door, but even from a distance she can see how tired and unhappy he looks. Clearly something _has_ happened – something bad.

He is late getting to their meeting place after work, and when she sees him coming, she runs into his arms and hugs him.

"But where were you? I was so worrieed. Somesing 'as 'appened?"

Bill holds her so tightly it hurts her, and buries his face in her hair. She can feel him trembling, and when he finally speaks, his voice is shaking. "My Dad was - was hurt. He's - he's in St. Mungo's."

She looks up into his eyes, and sees how close to breaking down he is. She is used to him looking after her, but their roles are reversed now. She takes his hand and leads him along Diagon Alley to Eeylops, and up the narrow stairs to her tiny flat. She pushes him gently into the flat's one armchair, lights the fire with a flick of her wand, and makes hot chocolate. She perches on the arm of the chair and hands him a mug.

"Your fazzer?" she asks. "'E will be alright?"

He takes a gulp of his drink and nods. "Yeah. It - it looked like he might not be for a while, but – yeah, he'll be okay."

Suddenly he chokes, and puts his mug down, beginning to cry. Fleur puts her own drink down too, and wraps her arms round him, stroking his hair and murmuring nonsense to him in French. She knows he does not understand most of what she is saying, but it does not matter. He will not - or cannot – tell her what happened, but that does not matter either. They trust each other enough now that explanations are not necessary.

Eventually he stops crying. Fleur reheats the chocolate and finds marshmallows to go with it. Bill pulls her onto his lap as they drink. They sit together in the firelight for a long time. They love each other. The things they cannot share no longer matter. What they have is more important than any of them.


	27. The Weird Sisters

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_The Weird Sisters_

It is good to be home. It is good to be able to talk in French, not to have to struggle to translate everything. It is good to sleep in her own bedroom, to eat familiar French meals, not to have to go to work every day. Most of all it is good to see her family.

Three days after Christmas, Fleur and Gabrielle escape from the formal party downstairs (where they are the only people under forty) and hide in Gabi's bedroom, with a box of chocolates, lemonade for Gabrielle and white wine for Fleur. They curl up on the bed with a book of Muggle fairytales that they found in a junk shop on La Rue du Dragon, which is beautifully illustrated, and all the more special to the two girls because the pictures do not move. Fleur reads their favourite story _"La Belle au Bois Dormant"_ aloud to her sister. (Gabrielle is far too old to be read to really, but they both enjoy it.) It is wonderful to be together again.

(But Fleur misses Bill terribly, and in bed that night finds herself counting the days – and the hours and the minutes – until she will see him again.)

* * *

It is the first time he has been in England for Christmas for seven years, and it feels wrong. For a start, they are at Grimmauld Place, not at The Burrow. Dad is in hospital. Charlie is in Romania. Percy is… a git. (He had to physically restrain Fred and George from going to Percy's flat and beating him up after he returned his Christmas jumper, but he knows _exactly_ how they feel.) The twins and Ron and Ginny are here, of course (together with Harry and Hermione), Ginny filling the house with her music until everyone else is heartily sick of The Weird Sisters. And Mum is trying to make Christmas feel like Christmas should, but he can see the look of anxiety and fear in her eyes when she thinks no one is looking at her, and the lines of strain and worry round her mouth that never used to be there.

He spends Christmas night keeping watch outside a gathering of Death Eaters in an old house near Godric's Hollow with Kingsley Shacklebolt and Dedalus Diggle. Three days later, he and Remus Lupin and Mad-Eye Moody arrive a little too late to save a family of Muggle-borns from a Death Eater attack.

It does not feel like Christmas.

On New Year's Day, Harry and Hermione finally rebel against Ginny's choice of music and confiscate her audio spell cards. Bill comes back from guard duty at the Ministry to find The Weird Sisters replaced by Muggle music, which is oddly compelling once he gets used to it.

_All is quiet on New Year's Day  
A world in white gets underway  
And I want to be with you  
Be with you night and day  
Nothing changes on New Year's Day_

_I will be with you again  
I will be with you again_

Christmas has not felt like Christmas, but tomorrow he will see Fleur again.

* * *

_A/N The idea of audio spell cards was stolen from WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot. Her Daphne Greengrass stories are in my favourites, and are definitely worth a look._

_The song lyrics belong to U2 of course._


	28. Thief

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Thief_

Fleur checks again, but she knows it isn't there. When the catch broke, she left her charm bracelet in the desk drawer to keep it safe. But now it is gone, and Gladys is looking at her slyly, while Mary-Kate and Tallulah are giggling.

She is not going to take this any more. She has put up with Gladys and her cronies' catty remarks and jealousy for long enough. She is not going to tolerate outright theft.

She walks over to Gladys, her head held high. "What 'ave you done wiz my bracelet, Miss Porlock?" she asks quietly.

Gladys turns a look of mock innocence on her. "What bracelet? I have no idea what you're talking about, _Mademoiselle _Delacour." (Mary-Kate and Tallulah snigger; the other secretaries look up from their work, avid for gossip. It is a good thing that Miss Payne is in a meeting.)

"You are lying, and if you do not give it back, I will go to Miss Payne." Fleur's voice is steady, but she can feel her heart beating fast.

"You wouldn't dare!"

Fleur lifts her chin proudly. "I am going upstairs for Mr. Gumble to sign zese letters. If my bracelet is not on my desk when I get back, I _will_ go to Miss Payne."

The eyes of all the secretaries follow her as she crosses to the door; she hears the buzz of chatter begin as she goes out. She glances over her shoulder and sees that Gladys looks defiant, Mary-Kate and Tallulah nervous.

She spins out her errand for as long as she can, but avoids pausing outside Bill's door as she often does in the hope that he will look up and see her. She is going to do this on her own.

When she returns, her bracelet is on her desk. She smiles at Gisela, who is giving her a thumbs up, and bends her head over her work. Gladys is frowning darkly – it is not often that anyone stands up to her bullying, and she does not like it.

Miss Payne does not return from her meeting until five minutes before the end of the day, and when she does she finds the secretaries' room unnaturally quiet. She glares at Fleur, but she is working diligently and, for once, even Miss Payne cannot find anything to criticise her for. The minute the bell for the end of work goes, Gladys leaps up, leaving several files scattered over her desk, and makes for the exit, Mary-Kate and Tallulah following in her wake. Fleur stands up more slowly, tidying her own desk, and slipping the broken bracelet into her pocket.

Miss Payne is regarding her suspiciously. She knows she has missed something, and she does not like it. This is _her _kingdom.

"Miss Delacour, please deal with those files before you leave," she says, indicating the mess on Gladys' desk.

But Fleur is not going to put up with bullying from _anyone _today. "I am sorry, Miss Payne," she says firmly. "I 'ave to go and meet someone. 'E will be waiting for me. I am sure zat Miss Porlock can deal wiz 'er own filing in ze morning."

She smiles at the older woman, and murmurs, "Goodbye" as she leaves. It is a full thirty seconds before Miss Payne realises that her mouth is wide open, and snaps it shut.

Bill is in the foyer, talking to Zoran and a couple of goblins. Normally, Fleur would walk past him without saying anything, and go out to meet him in the usual place further down Diagon Alley. But not today. She waits until he has finished his conversation, and then goes and takes his arm.

He smiles at her, surprised. "What brought this on? I thought we were supposed to be a dark and deadly secret."

He is teasing her, but she does not mind. She shakes her head, a look of determination in her eyes. "Not any more," she says.


	29. Iridescent

_This fits with chapters 3 and 4 of "Chocolate and Ginger"._

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Iridescent_

The sky behind the pyramids is a blaze of colour – purple and yellow, blue and orange. Fleur still can't quite believe that she is here, that Bill brought her to _Egypt_ for a not-quite-Valentine's dinner. (Valentine's Day itself didn't happen for them.)

_(Bill had to go away for the weekend – and of course he wouldn't – or couldn't - tell Fleur where or why. They argued, and she refused to let him kiss her when they parted. She spent half the weekend worrying that something awful would happen to him, and that the last conversation they would ever have had would be an argument.)_

_**(Bill hated that he had to leave Fleur - Valentine's Day was important to her, even if it wasn't a big deal to him. He hated fighting with her. Most of all he hated that he couldn't tell her the complete truth.)**_

_(Fleur made the best of a bad job, and went to the cinema with Gisela. They shared a takeaway and a bottle of wine afterwards, and had a thoroughly good time.)_

_**(Bill spent the weekend spying on Death Eater meetings with Lupin and Tonks. It was cold and boring and frustrating. He missed Fleur horribly.)**_

So, two days late, they have their Valentine's dinner in a tiny restaurant in Egypt, overlooking the Nile and the pyramids where Bill used to work. Going back to reality in cold and foggy London is a wrench.

But Bill spends the night at Fleur's flat for the first time, and she has no doubts that she is doing the right thing. Her dreams as she sleeps in his arms are shot through with the colours of the Egyptian sky. This is the future she wants.


	30. Stars

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Stars_

"I don't like her," Molly says, frowning into her coffee as she and Arthur sit in their garden – well protected by warming spells against the clear cold March air – after Bill and Fleur have left.

Arthur sighs and closes his eyes, wondering how much to say. "I think you made that pretty clear, Molly," he says mildly.

She bristles, as he knew she would. "I was perfectly polite to her."

He can't deny that. "Yes, you were, but…"

"But what?" Molly's voice is sharp.

Arthur reaches over and takes her hand. He doesn't want an argument about this. "You weren't exactly warm and welcoming, love," he points out.

Molly makes a sound that can only be described as a snort. "I was welcoming enough. She has her claws into Bill, and I'm not going to encourage her."

"Molly… Bill's got enough commonsense not to let any girl 'get her claws into him' unless he wants her to. He's crazy about her, it's obvious."

"Exactly. He's not thinking straight. I don't trust someone as pretty as she is." Molly's voice is rising, and Arthur is glad that they are drinking coffee, rather than the Firewhisky which was his first instinct after the somewhat awkward evening they have just passed.

"You're not being reasonable, love," he says. "Just because she's beautiful doesn't mean she's untrustworthy. I thought she was a nice girl, and she certainly gives the impression that she cares about Bill."

"That remains to be seen," Molly replies, frowning darkly. "I don't trust her and I don't like her. Bill can do better."

Arthur sighs, but drops the subject. Twenty five years of marriage have taught him that sometimes there is just no arguing with Molly.

* * *

Bill and Fleur are sitting on the hillside behind The Burrow, looking up at a clear and starry sky. Bill has his arm around Fleur's shoulders, but she is holding herself rigid in his embrace.

Finally, she speaks, her voice barely above a whisper. "Your muzzer does not like me."

Bill hears the quiver in her voice, and pulls her closer, feeling that right now he could happily strangle his mother. Does she have to make her feelings so bloody obvious?

"Fleur… I don't care what Mum thinks. She's just being awkward because she thinks she knows what's best. She always will, even when we're all about ninety. Don't let her get to you. Please." He kisses her, tasting the salt on her cheeks. "Fleur, love… Don't cry. I love you. I don't care what my mother thinks. It doesn't matter. I love you."

"I know. I love you too." Fleur's voice cracks, and she lets Bill pull her into an embrace as she cries. "I wanted 'er to like me."

"I know," Bill whispers, kissing her again. "She'll come round." He hopes that that is true, but knows that it doesn't matter if it isn't. No one and nothing will separate him from Fleur now.


	31. Pink

_This will be the last thing I post for a couple of weeks, as I'm off on holiday tomorrow. Many apologies for not updating "Birthdays and Beyond" before I go - Charlie, in particular, is being very unco-operative. I hope he'll have decided to behave by the time I get back!_

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Pink_

They are dodging in and out of shops, trying to avoid the April showers. But they stop outside the once boarded-up shop where they used to meet, peering in through the window past the lurid purple paint on the frames to see if they can work out who has leased it. There is no name painted on the sign yet, and the interior reveals only unremarkable cardboard boxes, a ladder, empty shelves. They will have to wait and see. Surprisingly, the usually omniscient Diagon Alley rumour mill has yet to come up with a satisfactory answer to the puzzle of what this shop will become.

"Maybe a sweet shop?" Fleur says hopefully, and Bill laughs.

"You're obsessed, woman!" he teases her, and she lifts her chin proudly, although she is laughing too.

"You are a man," she tells him. "You do not understand. Zere are certain times when a woman _needs_ somesing sweet."

"Oh, there are, are there?" He is still teasing her. "Sounds like an excuse to me."

She snorts. "You 'ave a sister, don't you? You should know zese sings."

"How on earth would I?" he protests. "Ginny's eleven years younger than me. I'd left home before she knew things like that herself."

"Now zat _is _an excuse!" Fleur tells him sternly, grabbing his hand and towing him towards Fortescue's. "For zat, you will 'ave to buy me a strawberry sundae."

"Must I?" he protests, letting her drag him into the ice cream parlour. "The strawberry ice cream in this place is such a foul shade of pink. Wouldn't chocolate do?"

"No, it would not," she tells him firmly. "Zere is nossing wrong wiz pink."

"As long as you don't expect me to eat it…" he says, grinning, and turning to Florean Fortescue, who has come over to take their order. "A strawberry sundae for the lady, please, and pistachio for me. And two coffees."

She smiles at him and reaches over to take his hand. He smiles back. Sometimes she is ridiculously easy to please.


	32. Chocolate Frogs

_Sorry this has been along time coming. This chapter took forever to write - why did I expect Fred and George to be co-operative? It's a lot more Bill-and-the-twins than Bill-and-Fleur, but it makes some points that I think will be important later._

_I'm off tomorrow on Brownie pack holiday, so I expect I will have written something by the time I get back next week- pack holiday being where my fanfiction addiction took hold of me last year._

_Please read and review. _

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Chocolate Frogs_

Fleur sees the name on the shop as she is hurrying to work, and stops dead in her tracks. She wonders if Bill knows. She meets him on the steps outside the bank, and he takes her hand and kisses her. None of the other Gringotts workers hurrying into work take much notice – their relationship is old news now: even Gladys seems to have got used to it, if she doesn't like it much.

"'Ave you seen ze shop?" Fleur asks breathlessly, as they pull apart.

He shakes his head, and smiles somewhat grimly. "No, but I heard _all _about it from my mother last night. Fred and George apparently set up a swamp somewhere on the fifth floor at Hogwarts, and then made their escape on broomsticks. Mum is _not_ impressed."

Fleur laughs. "Een zat case, I sink I feel a beet sorry for ze twins." She knows what it is like to be disapproved of by Bill's mother.

Bill shakes his head. "Don't. They're more than capable of taking care of themselves."

By the end of the day, Bill is fed up of answering questions about the shop. (_Yes, it is his brothers. No, he didn't know they were planning it. No, he has no idea how they paid for it. Yes, he can guess what they're going to be selling, but everyone else can wait and see._) He decides he needs to see the place for himself.

He drops Fleur off outside her flat, telling her he will pick her up in half an hour or so, and walks back along Diagon Alley and hammers on the door of the newly named _"Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes"_.

"We're closed!" yells a voice from inside, but Bill is not to be deterred.

"I know," he replies. "Let me in!"

The door opens a crack, and one of the twins peers out. "Did Mum send you?" he demands.

"No. Let me in, Fred. I want to see what all the fuss is about."

"I'm not Fred, I'm George."

"No, you're not. Let me in."

Fred opens the door, and stands back to admit Bill. George is crouched on the floor, opening a large cardboard box, full of smaller boxes labelled "Puking Pastilles". The shelves are half-full of various cartons and boxes, most of them luridly coloured, the contents unidentifiable at present. There is a counter, a cash register, an empty notice board behind the till, and a curtain covering what is obviously a door to another room.

Bill looks around in frank admiration. The twins are silent for once, obviously waiting for his comments. After a few seconds, he grins and gives a low whistle. "Ve-ry impressive," he admits. "But I'd like to know how the hell you paid for it."

"I bet you would!" Fred says. "Doesn't mean we're going to tell you, though."

Bill scowls. "Just tell me you didn't do anything illegal."

George shakes his head earnestly. "We didn't, Bill, honest."

Bill laughs, despite himself. "Why do I believe you? I should know better."

The twins have identical mock-wounded expressions on their faces. "You misjudge us, brother dear," Fred says.

"I don't think so."

The twins are exchanging a look, and Bill wonders what's coming next. He doesn't have to wait long.

"Bill…" Fred's tone is wheedling, almost pleading.

"Yes...?"

"Lend us some money. This place took every sickle we've got, and we're living on chocolate frogs and baked beans."

Bill laughs. "On the same plate? How horrible." He sobers abruptly. "You could go home. Mum'd feed you."

The twins roll their eyes at him.

"Sure she would…"

"At a price…"

"She went on for three hours solid yesterday…"

"Probably a record…"

"Even for her…"

"And she's been sending Howlers every hour on the hour today."

"You don't know what it's like to be in Mum's bad books, Bill."

"Don't I?"

"Of course you don't. She approves of you."

Bill gives a slightly bitter laugh. "That's all you know. I'm not in her good books at the moment. She's making it pretty obvious she disapproves of Fleur."

The twins grimace. "Why?" asks George. "Isn't she good enough for you?"

Bill shrugs, his eyes stormy. "Merlin only knows. You know Mum when she gets an idea in her head. Fleur's too young, too beautiful, too _French_. Or something. But Mum can mind her own business, as far as I'm concerned."

"So if you understand what it's like to have Mum on your case, you ought to sympathise enough to lend us some money," Fred says, with the air of someone who has proved a difficult logic puzzle, and who expects to be appropriately rewarded.

Bill laughs, and pulls some coins out of his pocket, handing them over to Fred. "Don't tell Mum. She'll say I'm encouraging you."

"As if we would!" George's face is all innocence. "You can even come to the Leaky for dinner with us if you like."

"What, now that I've paid for it? You're so generous. No thanks, George, I have a _much _better offer."

"French and beautiful?" Fred asks, smirking.

"Something like that," Bill replies, turning to leave. "See you soon. And remember you're going to have to face Mum again sooner or later. You might as well get it over with."

Fred and George make faces at him, but do not argue.

Bill is smiling to himself as he knocks on the door of Fleur's flat a few minutes later. Something tells him the twins' shop is going to be a success.


	33. Bouillabaisse

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Bouillabaisse_

Bill can't help but contrast his welcome by Fleur's family with the way his mother has reacted towards Fleur. He was very nervous before they arrived at the large and elegant house just south of Paris. Fleur's family are comparatively rich, unlike his who struggle for every Sickle. He knows they all speak at least some English, but his French is shaky to say the least, and it would be rude to make no effort at all with their language.

In addition, he is asking them to accept him as their daughter's boyfriend (and soon, he hopes, as something more), and he cannot be at all what they had hoped or expected for her. He is nearly six years older than Fleur, he is foreign, he is far from being rich, he has long hair and an earring. Not to mention the fact that he and his family are up to their necks in a war that is becoming increasingly dangerous, and which could go on for years. Being with him is risky. Fleur would be much safer back in France.

But their welcome to him could not be warmer. Over dinner of bouillabaisse and the best bread he has ever tasted, they make it obvious how much they trust Fleur's judgement. They ask him about his work, his family, his time in Egypt. Even about the war – though they make it clear they know there are things he cannot tell them, and that they understand that. They give the impression that they ask because they really want to get to know him, not because they are checking out his suitability for their daughter. Bill begins to relax.

Gabrielle takes to him on sight, whispering to Fleur in French that he is even better looking than she described in her letters. (Bill pretends not to understand, but it makes him blush, which gives the game away rather.) Gabi insists on sitting next to him at dinner, and takes great delight in correcting his French pronunciation and grammar, despite Fleur and her mother both frowning and shaking their heads at her.

It is very different from his own home, but Bill feels he could belong here.


	34. Blowing Bubbles

_(The conversation here is in French of course, hence the lack of accents. Translate it if you're clever enough!)_

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Blowing Bubbles_

Fleur and Gabrielle are on the terrace behind the house, blowing bubbles – in Muggle fashion, since Gabrielle is too young to use magic, and Fleur actually enjoys it more that way, even if the results are less spectacular. Bill left early this morning, and Fleur is missing him already.

So is Gabrielle.

"Pink," she says happily, bursting several bubbles with her hair as she twirls round to face her sister. "With a bow at the back and lace round the neckline."

Fleur is frowning as she purses her lips to blow more bubbles. "What _are_ you talking about?" she inquires.

"My dress, of course. When you and Bill get married."

"It can't be pink. His sister's hair is as red as his. Redheads can't wear pink, Gabi." Suddenly Fleur catches herself, realising that she is making the same assumptions as Gabrielle – assumptions she should be telling her sister off for, not encouraging. She backpedals rapidly. "Anyway, what do you mean 'when Bill and I get married'? He hasn't asked me to marry him."

"Not yet," Gabrielle says shrewdly. "He will, though, won't he? And you'll say yes."

"Gabrielle! You must not jump to conclusions." Fleur uses her wand to blow a series of large bubbles, hoping that will distract her sister sufficiently to make her change the subject.

The ruse is unsuccessful. Gabrielle pirouettes neatly across the terrace, bursting every one of the giant bubbles, and ending up in a heap at Fleur's feet.

"He will ask you to marry him very soon," she says seriously. "And you will say yes. And I will have the prettiest dress I've ever had for the wedding."

Fleur can't help but smile.


	35. Butterbeer

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Butterbeer_

"And I seriously think the Cannons have a chance of winning the league this year." Charlie looks at his brother sideways, wondering if this will get through to him.

"Mm? Do you?" Bill clearly isn't listening, and Charlie throws a pillow at him with some accuracy, causing him to slop butterbeer down himself and glare at Charlie. "What the hell was that for?"

"You. You're not listening to a word I'm saying. You've been miles away all evening. What's up, Bill?"

Bill merely closes his eyes and shakes his head, taking a gulp from the bottle of butterbeer in his hand. (They were drinking Firewhisky earlier, but Charlie has to be up at five in the morning for an early shift, and Bill has to Portkey back to England soon after, so they have decided that enough is enough.)

Charlie decides he needs to be direct if he is going to get any sense at all out of his brother tonight. "Why don't you just go ahead and ask her to marry you?" he asks, as if that is what they have been discussing for the last couple of hours, rather than avoiding the subject and talking about anything and everything else.

Bill frowns, and shakes his head again in frustration. "How can I, Charlie? We're in the middle of a bloody war. How can I involve her in that?"

"Strikes me she's pretty involved already," Charlie points out. "How would she react if you told her it was over and sent her back to France?"

"_Sent_ her?" Bill asks, raising his eyebrows. "She wouldn't go. Fleur doesn't do things just because someone tells her to."

Charlie grins. "Glad to hear it." He becomes serious again almost at once. "Honestly, Bill, it's pretty darn obvious you're nuts about her. Does she feel the same way about you?"

Bill colours, but nods. "Think so."

"Then go ahead and propose, you idiot. She's probably wondering what's keeping you."

Bill laughs at last. "Quite likely. Can I cry on your shoulder if she says no?"

Charlie laughs too. "If you must, but I think I'm pretty safe there. She won't say no."


	36. Quidditch

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Quidditch_

It is cold and grey and rainy, and Fleur thinks resignedly that it _must_ be love if she is letting Bill drag her to a Quidditch game which his team are bound to lose. (He even says so himself, so thinking it is clearly acceptable.) She wonders if hoping the Liverpool Lizards' Seeker catches the Snitch early so she can go home soon to where it is warm and dry is equally acceptable, but she keeps that thought to herself, because she thinks Bill may disagree with her on that one.

Sure enough, the Cannons lose by two hundred and sixty to twenty. (Bill seems ridiculously pleased that his team have managed to score at all.) In Fleur's opinion, Simon "Streaker" Sutcliffe of the Lizards was almost criminally slow in spotting and catching the Snitch. Again, she does not voice the thought aloud to Bill.

He looks down at her as they struggle through the milling crowds to the exit, and seems surprised at how much she is shivering.

"Are you cold?" he asks, as if the thought of being cold at a Quidditch match had never even occurred to him.

Fleur is not sure whether to laugh or cry, or whether to skip the preliminaries and just hit him. She settles for one of her fiercest glares.

"Of course I am cold, you idiot!" she spits. "What do you expect? I will never _ever_ get used to ze weazzer in zis country!"

Bill has the grace to look contrite, and takes off his lurid orange scarf and wraps it round her neck. "I'm sorry, Fleur," he says. "But you'll have to get used to British weather _and_ to Quidditch matches if you're going to marry me."

Fleur stops dead, ignoring the good-natured, "'Ere, watch it love!" from the Lizards fan behind her.

"_What _did you say?" she demands.

Bill has stopped too, a look half-horrified and half-laughing on his face. The other fans – deciding that they obviously aren't going to be moving any time soon - stream around them.

"Oh damn," Bill says. "I wasn't supposed to ask you like that, was I?"

"Ask me?" Fleur is trying to sound stern, but is having a hard job not laughing herself. "You 'aven't asked me anysing yet, Bill Weasley."

There is nothing else for it. Bill gets onto his knees in the mud, with the Cannons and Lizards fans pressing round them, and takes Fleur's hands in his.

"I love you, Fleur Delacour," he says. "Will you marry me?"

Fleur is smiling now. "You know zat I will," she says, as she pulls him to his feet.

He takes her in his arms and kisses her, and neither of them notice the wolf whistles and cheers from the fans surrounding them.


	37. Opal

So, I finally finished my NaNo novel and can indulge myself with some fanfic. Hope you like it! B&B update is in the pipeline too.

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Opal_

Two days later – as he had planned all along – Bill does it properly, and Fleur gets the candlelit dinner, the champagne and the red roses. She does not need any of them, but to say that she does not enjoy the evening would be untrue. Bill's eyes gazing into hers are the same as at the Quidditch match, and confirm what she already knows – that he is hers and she is his, and that they belong together forever.

They both know the objections to their marriage that others will think about even if they do not voice them aloud. Their backgrounds would be very different even if they did not come from different countries. Fleur's English is still far from perfect, and Bill's French is worse. She is used to the best of everything; his family have to stretch every Knut and Sickle. Bill is nearly six years older than Fleur. His mother disapproves. His sister will be jealous. There is a war on.

_That last is the only difficulty either of them will admit. Bill spent the evening after the Quidditch match, with them curled together on the sofa eating Indian food and drinking cheap red wine, pointing out to Fleur how foolish it was of her to be in a relationship with someone who was up to his neck in a war that was nothing to do with her. She should go home and find a nice safe Frenchman to marry._

_Eventually, Fleur became angry. She freed herself from Bill's encircling arm, standing up and facing him, her expression furious and her hands curled into fists._

"'_Ow dare you?" she demanded fiercely. "'Ow dare you say zat zis war is nossing to do wiz me?" Bill was staring at her open-mouthed, surprised and slightly scared of her fury. Fleur drew a shaky breath and actually stamped her foot. "Cedric Deeggory was my friend," she reminded him. "'Arry is my friend. And you – 'ow can you say zat zis is nossing to do wiz me when you know 'ow I feel about you? Eet ees too late for zat now, Bill." She drew another breath. "Anyway 'ow long do you sink zat You Know 'Oo weell be 'appy wiz just zis country eef 'e wins ze war 'ere? 'E will look to Europe, to la France aussi. You know 'e will. And zen 'ow safe weell I be? Or Maman or – or Gabi?" She was blinking back tears now, her voice shaking with emotion. "You may be a blood traitor, Bill, but at least you are a Pureblood. What about me? I am not even 'uman. Eef –eef You Know 'Oo wins and zen takes France, what 'ope weell zere be for me, for ma famille?"_

"_Oh, Fleur." Bill was on his feet, his face stricken. He pulled her into his arms, feeling her tense body relax and her hands come up to grip the front of his sweater as she began to cry. "You're the most human person I know," he whispered. "I'm sorry, love. I'm sorry."_

So, two days later, they are in the restaurant drinking champagne by candlelight, a bouquet of dark red roses by Fleur's side and a new opal ring on her finger. It cost every last Sickle of Bill's share of the last treasure bonus he and Zoran earned and then some, but he thinks it was worth it.

(Opals are meant to be unlucky, but not for Veela apparently, and Fleur loves them. So Gabrielle told Bill when he was in France – in a "this is information I think you may need" sort of manner. Bill is learning rapidly that Gabi does not miss much of what goes on in her sister's life. He does check his facts with Fleur's mother though. With a much-younger sister of his own, he knows better than to take Gabrielle's word uncorroborated.)

The look on Fleur's face as he slips the ring on her finger is all the confirmation he needs that – war or not – this is the right thing to do. Whatever happens, he and Fleur belong together.


	38. Lemon Drops

I know this update is way, way overdue. Thank you for your patience :-)

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Lemon Drops_

Bill Apparates the pair of them to the centre of a dingy-looking square in London, and then pulls a crumpled piece of parchment from his pocket and shows it to Fleur. As she reads Professor Dumbledore's words on the parchment, a house begins to appear in front of them, squeezing its way out from between those on either side. Fleur bites back a gasp. She has never seen a property protected by a Fidelius charm before, and seeing the old house appearing like that is odd, even to someone who has known magic all her life.

Bill smiles, and takes her arm. "Ready?" he asks her.

Fleur swallows and nods. Really, she has never felt less ready for something in her entire life, but she can't back out now.

They make it into the house without disturbing Sirius' mother (Bill has warned Fleur about her already), but it is Bill's mother that Fleur is more worried about. There is a crowd of people in the kitchen. Molly Weasley is by the oven, stirring something. She greets Bill enthusiastically, Fleur coolly. Bill grimaces at Fleur behind his mother's back and gives her a tiny shrug. He takes Fleur round the room, introducing her to people. Apart from Bill's parents and the twins (and she cannot tell _them _apart), Professor Dumbledore (who offers her a lemon drop from a crumpled paper bag he produces from his pocket) and Professor Snape (who looks down his long nose at her), Fleur knows none of them. Everyone smiles, and is welcoming, and congratulates the two of them on their engagement, but Fleur is beginning to feel overwhelmed. All these people know each other, _Bill _knows all of them. She can barely keep their names straight in her head, and she is uncomfortably aware of Molly's eyes on her and Bill, their expression anything but friendly.

Finally the door bangs open, and there is the sound of screeching from the hall, and a young woman with bright pink hair tumbles rather than walks into the room. Bill catches her as she trips over the threshold, and she hugs him far too tightly for Fleur's liking, especially when she realises that this is the girl she saw Bill with outside Fortescue's all those months ago. But she smiles as Bill introduces them, and keeps her feelings to herself.

The meal and the meeting that follow pass in a blur to Fleur. Everyone else seems to know exactly what is going on, and who is who, and where everything is, and to follow everything that they are talking about, and she herself feels too new and suddenly too _foreign _to ask anything. Bill is as absorbed in the discussion as anyone else, though his hand squeezes hers comfortingly under the table now and then, and she knows that he will explain things to her later if she asks him. Obscurely, it is one of the twins (she has no idea which one) who brings her the greatest reassurance. Catching her eye across the table, he gives her the ghost of a wink, and she realises with a start that a lot of this is new to the twins too.

That night, she lies awake for a long time after Bill has fallen asleep. She had thought she was committed before, but this is something else. She is a member of the Order of the Phoenix. She is part of the war. This is reality.


	39. Journal

_**Il faut que je t'aime**_

_J__ournal_

If only they would at least _try _to like me.

We are staying at The Burrow, so that I can get to know Bill's family better. Which would be fine, if they showed any sign at all of wanting to know me.

But they don't.

I am trying. I am really trying. I am as helpful as I can be. I try to talk to them. I try not to get in the way.

But I feel like an intruder. I know I am unwelcome. None of them want me here.

Bill is not here most of the time – the security at Gringotts is so tight these days, that they are checking everything for curses three times before they will put it in a vault, so he is working stupidly long hours. And I am only working part-time now, so I am here without him a lot of the time.

And he does not realise how bad it is, how hard it is for me. I am not sure that I even want him to realise, because if he did he would be hurt and angry with his family, and he loves them, and I do not want that for him. So I do not tell him. And when he is here, it is better. They hide their feelings better when he is here.

But none of them want me here. None of them want me to marry Bill. They think he is making a terrible mistake.

Although Bill knows that his mother does not really approve of us getting married, he thinks she will come round to the idea when she knows me. I cannot work out if he really thinks that, or if he is just hoping… It does not matter anyway, because Molly Weasley shows no sign at all of _wanting_ to get to know me. She thinks I am wrong for Bill, because I am not English, I am too young, I am stupid (she thinks), I am too pretty, we have not known each other long enough, I am not Nymphadora Tonks… Whatever her reasons, she does not like me, and I do not think she will _ever _like me, however hard I try.

She is not as bad as Ginny. Ginny is horrible to me, and I want to slap her – but I do not. Bill loves his little sister, and he does not realise how nasty she is being – and she is not like that when he is here, or if he is watching her. He knows she is jealous, but he thinks she will get over it. I would like to _make _her get over it, to teach her a lesson, but I will not. I am trying to be good.

Bill loves his family. He does not want to argue with them.

But he loves me too. Perhaps I ought to tell him how bad it is.

I wish I knew what to do.


	40. Eyes

**Il faut que je t'aime**

_Eyes_

They are eyes in the dark, watching, waiting. They are spaced far enough apart that they cannot see each other, although they know where the others are. Remus Lupin is on Fleur's right, near the corner of the mansion. One of the twins (she _cannot _tell them apart, and she has more or less given up trying) is somewhere off to her left. Bill, Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt and the other twin are at the sides and the back of the building.

All of them are eyes, watching, waiting.

For something that may or may not happen. They have watched the Death Eaters arriving, and those who know them – Kingsley and Remus mainly, although Tonks and Bill recognise some of them, have noted the names and who arrives with whom. Now they are just waiting, watching. It could be a long night of boredom, or it could suddenly explode into action if this is more than a meeting, if the Death Eaters are obviously off to cause mayhem somewhere, or if some of the new arrivals bring prisoners with them. Fleur shivers, although the night is mild. She wishes she were nearer to Bill, although she knows that Kingsley has separated them on purpose, as he has the twins. They are all safer if they are looking out for themselves and _all_ of the others, rather than concentrating on one particular other. Fleur recognises the logic of it, but that does not mean she likes it.

There is a noise from the back of the house, shouts, and the sound of something (someone?) falling. The band on her wrist warms and glows yellow. _Wait._ Fleur bites her lip. Waiting is harder than doing something. What is happening? Are they alright? Is _Bill _alright?

More cries, a scream. She hears the twin to her left swearing steadily under his breath, as frustrated as she is by their inactivity.

Suddenly, the door of the mansion bursts open, and figures emerge, running, shouting to each other, clearly running away rather than running _to _something. Fleur grips her wand, feels sweat creeping between her shoulder blades. She hears movement to her left, then Remus' voice from the right, loud and commanding, "Let them go, they're on their own."

There are more shouts and thumps from the back of the mansion, accompanied now by bursts of light as hexes and jinxes fly. What is happening? Fleur tastes blood on her lip. Then the band on her wrist warms again, glows red: _Aid needed_. She is off and running without conscious thought, following Remus round the overgrown path to the side of the house. Behind the building, there is a scene of chaos; figures running, darting, duelling. There are three figures on the ground, one of them red-headed, and Fleur feels her heart thumping in her chest. Then she gasps with relief tinged by guilt when she realises it is the other twin, not Bill. He is at the edge of the courtyard, duelling a Death Eater as tall as himself, but twice as bulky. Kingsley has two men cornered by the mansion's back door; Tonks is in trouble, trying to hold off two hooded figures on her own, blood running down her right arm, her wand in her left hand.

Fleur wants to go to Bill's aid, to feel him beside her, but she knows that he is holding his own. With a brief anguished look in his direction, she follows Remus towards the corner where Tonks is fighting desperately for her life. The Death Eaters are not expecting reinforcements, and they are felled by the jinxes she and Remus throw at their unsuspecting backs. Tonks is on the ground now, her eyes glazing.

"Get her out of here!" Remus orders, and Fleur obeys because she must, because it is part of what she signed up for when she joined the Order, although leaving Bill here still in danger is a physical ache in her chest. Remus himself is heading to where the twins are huddled together on the ground, not waiting to watch her Disapparate with Tonks in her arms.

It is half an hour – although it seems much longer – and Tonks is sitting up on the battered settee in the living room at The Burrow, telling Molly Weasley that she is fine and _please _will she stop fussing over her, before the back door opens and the others return.

Fleur is in Bill's arms as soon as he has helped the uninjured twin deposit their unconscious brother in the big armchair to be ministered to by their mother. But he winces when she hugs him, and she pulls back when she realises there is blood on his shirt.

"Bill! You are 'urt?"

He shakes his head, his eyes still on his brother lying much too still in the chair. "I'm okay. The blood's George's, not mine."

She puts her arms around him again, but he does not relax until George begins to stir and to protest that his mother is hurting him. In the kitchen, Kingsley and Remus are debriefing, reporting to Moody what has happened. Fleur closes her eyes and holds Bill tighter. She does not care about the details, although she knows that she should. For the minute, they are all safe.

Bill and Fleur lie awake a long time that night, holding each other in the dark.


	41. Music

_Music_

The Delacours' Hallowe'en ball is drawing to a close and Fleur and Bill have finally managed to escape to the terrace outside the large ballroom. The music follows them as they find a quiet corner, and Bill draws Fleur to him, kissing her hair and her neck and her lips.

Fleur smiles up at him. "'Ave you enjoyed it, chéri?"

He smiles back, kissing her again. "Yeah, but I'm enjoying this more."

He does not say what they are both thinking - how wonderful it is to be out of England, away from the constant fear and worry about You Know Who and what will happen next; how wonderful it would be not to go back. He does not say it because it would change nothing. He has to go back, and because he has to, she chooses to. Talking about it will change nothing.

-

Fleur is singing to herself as she smoothes the pale blue silk of the new robes her parents sent her for Christmas and piles her hair up on top of her head, leaving just the right number of long pieces to trail down around her face and neck. It is New Years Eve, and she is determined to forget their horrible Christmas and the war and Bill's _mother_ and enjoy herself. There is a tap at the door and Bill comes in, smiling at the sight of her, carrying red roses. He is as determined as she is that tonight will be a good one.

Merlyn's Nightclub is noisy and has an atmosphere of slightly forced enthusiasm and desperate optimism. Bill and Fleur are not the only ones who are ignoring the hard realities of the wizarding world tonight. The Jellicle Joes' _Love me in the dark_ plays as two hundred voices count down the seconds to the New Year.

This year will be a better one. This year they will get married, and no one will come between them. And perhaps, _perhaps_ this will be the year when You Know Who is defeated, and they can start to live a normal life together without fear. Fleur closes her eyes as she dances in Bill's arms, and hopes.

-

Since last year Valentines Day – their first – was a non-event, Bill wants to make sure that this year's is a good one. There are candles and flowers on the table, the wine is open, the meal is ready, and the music is _Ma Petite Sorcière _by Fleur's favourite band Les Rois de l'Amour (not Bill's taste in music at all, but he can put up with it for tonight).

They are just sitting down to eat, when the Floo crackles into life. It is Kingsley Shacklebolt. There is a cottage on Dartmoor where Death Eaters have met, and there are plans and documents inside that the Order needs to see. They have to act tonight before the Death Eaters get wind of their interest. But the entrances to the cottage are not only warded, but protected with several layers of curses. Hestia Jones is already in St. Mungo's after a curse backfired on her. They need Bill's help.

He has no choice. He has to go. This is what being part of the Order is all about.

"I'm sorry, love," he whispers, pulling Fleur close for a moment.

She smiles, and tells him it is not his fault, and that of course he has to go, and tries not to let him see how much she minds. Bill kisses her hard and Disapparates away.

It is well after three in the morning when he returns, exhausted and with a long burn along one arm. Fleur is asleep on the bed, fully dressed. The music of Les Rois de l'Amour is still playing, a song Bill has never heard before, and which he is far too tired to even attempt to translate. Fleur stirs as he turns the music off and lies on the bed beside her, pulling her to him. She moulds her body to his, and murmurs. "Je t'aime," without waking up properly. Bill kisses her and sinks into sleep himself.

This is their reality. Maybe next year things will be better.

* * *

_Thanks to Gilly (Princess Gillybean) for the French band name and song title._


	42. Pumpkin Juice

_Pumpkin juice_

Ginny fiddles with her glass of pumpkin juice, and refuses to look her brother in the eye. Bill sighs as he takes a sip of his own drink. This is not like Ginny – she usually has no trouble at all in telling you _exactly_ what she thinks.

"Ginny?" he asks quietly. "Talk to me."

She shakes her head, and still avoids looking at him. "It won't make any difference if I do."

Bill is struggling to hold on to his temper. What he really wants to do is to tell his sister to stop acting like a spoilt brat, but he knows that that will make things worse.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asks quietly.

Ginny takes a gulp of her drink and finally looks up at him. Her glare is half-confrontational, half sad. "You're not going to get rid of her, are you? Whatever I say?" She buries her face in her glass once more, and mutters something else that Bill does not catch.

"What?" he demands, and she looks at him again.

"I don't want to lose you," she repeats, lowering her gaze again almost at once.

Bill puts down his own glass with a bang, and reaches across the table to take his sister's hand.

"Gin… You aren't going to lose me." He squeezes her hand. "You'll always be my little sister. But…" He hesitates – she won't like this, but it has to be said. "If you ask me to choose between you and Fleur, I'll choose Fleur. I love her, and I'm going to marry her, whatever you or Mum or anyone else thinks about it."

Ginny drains her glass, and looks up at him, pulling her hand away. "That's what I meant," she says fiercely. "Nothing I say is going to make any difference. You're going to marry her whatever I say. And I hate her." She blinks rapidly. Ginny Weasley does not cry. Especially not over that French _bitch_…

Bill's expression is hard as he finishes his own drink. "I'm sorry you feel like that." His voice is icy. "But I've told you how I feel. And I'm not changing it for you or anyone else. I wish you'd at least make an effort to try and like her. For my sake." He stands up. "Are you finished? I'd better get you back to school."

Ginny does not look at him as they walk from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts. And she turns her face away as he tries to kiss her goodbye. She knows she is hurting him, but she does not care.

-

Fleur is curled on the settee with a mug of tea and a magazine when Bill gets in. She looks up and smiles, but can see from the look on his face that his meeting with Ginny has not gone well. She flicks her wand to re-heat the teapot, and hands him a steaming mug as he flops down beside her. He tries to smile, but it does not reach his eyes.

"Tea?" he asks. "We'll make an Englishwoman of you yet!"

Fleur laughs and kisses him. "Jamais!" Then her expression sobers. "Eet deed not go well wiz Zhinny, chéri?"

Bill shakes his head. "No. I'm sorry, love." He sets down his mug, and puts an arm round Fleur's shoulders. "Your family have been so good to me, and mine are just being _foul_…"

Fleur makes a noise that is halfway to a snort and snuggles into his chest. "Eet ees 'urting you more zan eet ees me," she points out quietly. "I weesh zat zey liked me, but eef zey do not…" She gives a very Gallic shrug. "I can leeve wiz eet. But eet ees not so easy for you, I sink."

Bill buries his face in Fleur's silvery hair and inhales her scent. He finds himself blinking rapidly, and swallows hard. It is ridiculous to get so upset about this, but he cannot help it. Fleur knows how he is feeling – she always does. She lifts her face to his and kisses him gently.

"We 'ave each ozzer, chéri," she reminds him. "Zat ees ze eemportant sing."

"I know." Bill holds her tightly and kisses her back. He knows that what she says is right. But all the same he wishes that things were different.


	43. Wingardium leviosa

_Wingardium leviosa_

For once, Bill gets home before Fleur. Miss Payne has insisted that all the secretaries stay late for a thorough clean up of their office. Even Gladys has not escaped, despite her pleading. Bill knows that Fleur will be hot, tired and bad-tempered when she finally escapes The Payne's clutches.

He is not wrong. He hears Fleur open the door and goes to meet her in the tiny hall, and she scowls at him as she dumps her bag. He pulls her to him and kisses her, but she pushes him away irritably.

"It's too 'ot," she complains. "Is zere any tea?"

Bill decides that this is not the time to tease her about her newly-acquired addiction to the British national drink.

"I'll make some," he says. "Why don't you go and have a shower and cool down a bit?"

Fleur nods curtly, and heads for the bathroom, while he goes to the kitchen.

When she emerges, wrapped in a blue silk kimono that matches her eyes, she is in a better mood. Still, Bill looks at her slightly warily as he hands her a mug of tea.

"Can I talk to you now without getting my head bitten off?" he asks, smiling.

Fleur smiles too, and snuggles up to him on the battered settee. "I am sorry, chéri," she murmurs. "But I was so 'ot, and zat woman is so 'orreeble, and Gladys is _such a cow_…"

Bill laughs and kisses her, narrowly escaping spilling her tea over the pair of them. "You _are_ coming on if you can insult people in English," he remarks. He reaches a hand into his pocket. "I've got something for you…"

She puts out a hand for the envelope he is holding, but Bill grins and pulls out his wand. He mutters "_Wingardium leviosa_", and the envelope goes soaring to the ceiling.

"Bill…!" Fleur wails. "You are mean! Give it to me!"

He shakes his head. "If you want it, you have to catch it."

Fleur shakes her head at him, trying to look stern, and sets down her mug with a bang. "Bill Weasley! 'Ow old are you?"

"About six," he says unrepentantly. "If you want it, you have to catch it."

A flick of his wand sends the envelope soaring away from her as she stands and reaches up for it. She chases it to the other side of the room, and he flicks his wand again to send it back to the ceiling just as she gets to it.

"Zis means war!" Fleur tells him, going to the bedroom to retrieve her own wand, discarded on the floor with her clothes.

Back in the living room, she attempts to retrieve the envelope with an "_Accio_!" but Bill counters with another charm. It takes five minutes of clashing spells and Fleur running around after the elusive envelope, until she finally catches it – mostly because Bill is laughing too much to utter another spell to send it away from her again.

Fleur collapses giggling onto the settee and rips the envelope open. Her eyes widen as she sees the contents – two tickets to see Les Rois de l'Amour when they play in London next week - and she flings herself on Bill.

"Oh, chéri, _sank you_," she gasps. Bill pulls her close and kisses her. The tickets fall unnoticed to the floor.

Sometimes it is good to remember that they are young and in love, and to forget that there is a war on.


	44. Lace

_Lace_

"No." Fleur is shrugging off the dress already.

The saleswitch rolls her eyes, and even Fleur's mother's legendary patience is giving out. Gabrielle is sitting in the corner looking bored. Choosing Fleur's wedding dress was supposed to be fun, but this is nothing of the kind.

"What is wrong with that one?" Apolline asks, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice. "It is beautiful. You look lovely in it."

"Too much lace." Fleur is adamant. She knows that she is being difficult, but this has to be _right_. The saleswitch hangs the dress back up, and runs her hand along the rail, somewhat despairingly.

Apolline shrugs. "I think we need a break. Come, let us have coffee."

Gabrielle jumps up thankfully, and Fleur, after a quick glance at her mother's decided face, realises that this is one time when there is no point arguing with her. She pulls on her everyday clothes quickly and picks up her bag, saying nothing.

They leave the shop, Gabrielle skipping happily, Fleur glowering. Apolline thanks the saleswitch graciously. She is clearly torn between relief at having rid herself of such exacting customers and resentment that the last two hours of effort have not resulted in a sale.

In the patisserie, Fleur lets her coffee go cold as she sketches on her napkin. Her mother decides she is going to have to say something, or this will take a lot longer than the one day they have set aside for it.

"Bill will think you are beautiful whatever you are wearing, chérie," she points out carefully.

Fleur frowns. "Of course he will. But that's not the _point_, Maman." She sips her coffee and avoids her mother's eyes. "I will know it when I see it. I will. I know I will." Suddenly, she finds herself blinking back tears. She has no idea why this matters so much; only that it does. Her mother sees the tears and refrains from making any further comment.

Gabrielle finishes her cake and chocolate before her mother and sister, and is wriggling in her chair. She has sat still long enough this morning already.

"Maman," she implores. "Please may I go and look at the kittens in Madame Bourchet's? Please…"

Her mother nods. "Very well, but do not go beyond her shop. And we are _not _having another cat, Gabrielle, however much you plead." Gabrielle makes a face, but slides out of her chair and leaves the patisserie with the air of a newly released prisoner.

She is back at a run less than five minutes later.

"I have found it!" she proclaims dramatically.

Her mother frowns. "Gabrielle, I told you. We are not having another cat."

Gabrielle shakes her head in frustration. "Not a cat, Maman, the dress. I have found it! Come on!"

She tugs at her mother's arm. Apolline looks over at her elder daughter. "Are you finished, Fleur?" Fleur nods, although her coffee is only half drunk, and her pastry untouched. The two of them follow the excited Gabrielle out of the patisserie.

She leads them straight past Madame Bourchet's Animal Bazaar to the corner of the road, where there is a tiny boutique that they walked past and ignored earlier. There is a dress in the window, modelled on a stiff and hideous dummy with a wig that looks as if it is falling apart and a leering smile.

But Fleur ignores the dummy and gapes at the dress. It is smooth and silvery and sleek. There is no lace, and no fussy bows or frills. It is perfect. She already knows how wonderful she will look wearing it.

Ten minutes later, they are leaving the boutique, the dress packaged in tissue and brown paper. Both Fleur and her mother are smiling happily.

Gabrielle decides to take her chance. She found the dress, after all. "Maman, there is a tabby kitten in Madame Bourchet's window… He looked so lonely"

Apolline looks at her younger daughter fondly, and is reaching in her bag for her purse. "You must feed him and clear up after him, Gabi," she says. "And he is _not _to sleep on your bed."

Gabrielle grins and nods, and sets off at a run for the Animal Bazaar.


	45. Key

_Key_

It has been a horrible day. It is June, but you would not know it. It is teeming with rain, and cold enough that Fleur is shivering at her desk as she works under Miss Payne's exacting eye. The Payne has told her off for so-called errors three times already today, although Fleur is certain there is nothing really wrong with the reports she has been writing up and filing. Gladys and her cronies are smirking and giggling, and the only thing stopping Fleur from leaving her desk in tears is the thought of what they would say if she did. She does not even have Gisela's support. She left last week to prepare for her wedding in Vienna next month, and Fleur misses her dreadfully.

Worse than all of this, she has not seen Bill since yesterday morning. He was out on Gringotts business all the previous day in Hull (wherever that is – Fleur still thinks most English place names very odd) dealing with some old lady's treasures that had been cursed by a jealous cousin who thought they had gone to the wrong branch of the family. Then Mad-Eye Moody (whom Fleur could happily murder right now) left a coded message for him at Gringotts that sent him off with several other Order members to Yorkshire immediately upon his return. Fleur was taking dictation from Delloran Gumble at the time, and she escaped to find a scribbled note on her desk saying Bill would go home with his father to The Burrow overnight as they would be back late, and that he would see her tomorrow.

But she has not seen him at all. Miss Payne collared her the minute she set foot through the door this morning with some complaint over a missing file, and Bill came in to work twenty minutes late while she was still in The Payne's office, so she did not even have the comfort of him smiling and winking at her on his way past the secretaries' room. And he has been trapped in a meeting all day, so they could not meet for lunch as they often do.

And her back hurts and her head aches and she is _sick _of thinking in French and having to translate it into English instead of just saying what she wants to, and she hates the English weather, and she is homesick for France for the first time since she and Bill started going out.

And the wedding is less than six weeks away, and they _still _haven't found anywhere to live, and Fleur really, _really _does not want to start her married life in the cramped and dingy Muggle flat they are living in now.

A shadow falls across her desk and she looks up to see Bill smiling down at her. He perches on the edge of her desk, apparently oblivious to the glare Miss Payne is giving him. Bill Weasley has gone down in Miss Payne's estimation since his relationship with Fleur became public knowledge.

"Are you nearly done?" Bill asks Fleur. "We need to go somewhere."

"Where?" Fleur demands. Right now, all she wants is a cup of tea and a hot bath.

"You'll see," Bill tells her, ignoring her obvious bad mood.

Fleur scowls at him. "I do not want to go anywhere," she insists. "I want to go 'ome." She is not sure if she means the Muggle flat or her home in France, and when she thinks about it she realises that she means the latter. She finds her eyes filling with tears, despite the inquisitive glances from Gladys and her allies, and she blinks rapidly.

Bill sees, and shifts his position on the edge of her desk to block her from the other girls' view.

"Hey," he says gently, taking the quill from her hand and standing up. "Come on, love. It's way after five. You can finish this tomorrow." He walks round to her side of the desk, and pulls her chair out for her. Miss Payne is glaring, but says nothing. Bill puts his arm round Fleur's shoulders and shepherds her out of the room. She is crying properly by the time they are outside on the steps of the bank, but he says nothing, merely putting his arms round her and Apparating the pair of them to a cold and wet cliff top, noisy with the sound of the sea and the wind.

"Bill!" Fleur protests. "Where are we? I said zat I wanted to go 'ome."

Bill smiles and turns her around. "We are home, love," he says. "Look!"

In front of them is a tiny whitewashed cottage, covered in shells. It is beautiful. Fleur gapes at it, and then at Bill. He slips a tiny silver key into her hand.

"It's ours," he tells her. "If you like it. I have to let them know one way or the other by tomorrow morning."

He takes her hand and leads her down the path to the front door of the cottage. Fleur is smiling. She knows already that they have come home.


	46. Light

_Light_

It is still light as Bill Apparates to Hogsmeade and walks up to the school, but he has no attention to spare for the glorious summer sky or for the sun sending long shadows in front of him as he walks. He is preoccupied, worried about Fleur's unexpected reaction to the message requiring his presence at Hogwarts. It as not as if the request is unprecedented; there have been several times this year when Dumbledore has had to leave the school and has called for Order members to provide extra security in his absence. Without exception, every previous occasion has proved uneventful, even boring. There is no reason at all to expect that this time will be any different.

But Fleur's response to McGonagall's Patronus asking him to come to Hogwarts was almost hysterical. She cried and pleaded with him not to go, pouring forth a torrent of French that he found practically impossible to understand. She thought something was going to happen to him, that much he understood, but he did not understand why. There was no reason to think such a thing, and her reaction was unlike her. He is not worried for himself as he walks up to the school in the glorious evening light, because he does not think that Fleur's fears have any foundation, but he is worried for her, on her own and fretting about nothing.

Professor McGonagall meets him in the Entrance Hall; Lupin and Tonks are already there. They split up to patrol the corridors, and to cover the entrances to the secret passageways into the school. Even on this brightest of summer evenings, the corridors are dim, lit only by the flickering of torches. It is very quiet, the students all in their common rooms or dormitories. It looks as if it will be another uneventful evening.

But after an hour of patrolling, the band on Bill's wrist glows blue, calling him to meet the others in an upper corridor. Ron and Ginny are there, with another boy Bill thinks he should recognise but whose name he cannot remember, talking to Lupin and McGonagall, who both look serious. It seems there are Death Eaters in the school, although it is unclear how they have gained entry. Lupin is telling Ron and the others to go to their common room, to leave this to them, and Ron is – predictably – arguing the point. Bill is about to back Lupin up – there is no way he wants his kid brother and sister involved in fighting Death Eaters – but it is too late. Hooded figures emerge from the dark corridor behind them and they are suddenly fighting for their lives, Order members and students alike.

It is dark, and curses are flying all around them. Bill hears Ron swearing loudly somewhere to his left, but he has no idea where Ginny is. Ridiculously, while he should be concentrating fully on battling the brawny Death Eater who seems immune to every curse and jinx Bill throws at him, a small part of his brain is thinking that if anything happens to either his brother or his sister, his mother will never forgive him.

He dodges to avoid the killing curse his opponent has fired at him, trips and falls. As he rolls back onto his feet, he sees Ginny near the foot of the stairs leading to the Astronomy tower, fighting a dumpy female Death Eater. But he sees someone else too. He has come across Fenrir Greyback on a previous Order mission, and knows his reputation only too well. And there is no mistaking the hungry longing look that Greyback is shooting at Ginny. Bill fears that the Death Eater she is fighting will give way to the werewolf and let him have his way with her. Bill shoots an immobilising jinx at his previous adversary, which this time does not miss. Then he turns to intercept Greyback, who is heading for Ginny, his long loping run covering the ground unnaturally fast.

Greyback snarls as the route to his prey is cut off, and he leaps at Bill, who is taken by surprise, having expected Greyback to use his wand. He fires a curse at the werewolf, which misses, and stumbles backwards, half-falling and putting out a hand to save himself. Greyback's weight crashes into him, pinning him to the ground. Bill smells his foul breath, and matted grey hair falls into his face, obscuring his vision. He struggles to free his wand hand, but Greyback has his wrist in a grip he cannot break. Rolling over and kicking at any part of his opponent he can reach, Bill feels sharp teeth tearing at his arm and shoulder, then at his neck and cheek. His cry of pain is stifled by Greyback's hand over his mouth and he feels the werewolf's teeth ripping at his face again. He is weakening, and he fights desperately to remain conscious, but the flames from the torches are blurring and he can no longer see Greyback's face clearly. Dimly, he sees blood on the werewolf's chin and ragged robes and realises that it must be his own. He is aware of Tonks to his right, trying to get past the Death Eater she is fighting to come to his aid. Her voice yelling his name is the last thing he hears as the darkness overwhelms him.


	47. Reflection

_I know this is horribly, horribly overdue. For some reason, I could not get it down on paper/screen although it had been in my head for ages. Please forgive me and review. Pretty please..._

_Reflection_

Fleur had known – though she has no idea how or why; such a thing has never happened to her before – that something would happen, but she had not expected this. She tries to tell herself that it could be so much worse, that Bill could have died, but… She looks down at the face of the man she loves and she does not recognise it. There is so much blood, and whole pieces of flesh missing, and he simply does not look like Bill at all. Part of her wants to turn and run from this nightmare, and not come back, but her feet seem frozen to the ground. She can feel Ginny's eyes on her, and wonders what she is thinking. Her own thoughts are so confused it is easier to think about someone else's.

It is Molly Weasley, of all people, who saves her, who brings her back to the reality she can and will live with. Molly starts talking nonsense about how Bill was _going _to be married, and Fleur knows that she thinks that she will abandon him now that this has happened. All thoughts of doing so leave her head at once. Bill is – is still – the man she loves. The scars do not change anything. She tells her future mother-in-law so with force and vim, and snatches the ointment from her to tend to Bill's wounds herself. Then Molly is saying something about a tiara and how lovely it will look with her hair, and Fleur is crying and Molly is crying, and they are hugging each other and she has no idea how it has happened.

She stays by the bedside all night, dozing in the hard chair, her hand in Bill's, even though he has not roused at all. In the early hours, he half wakes, crying out in pain, and she strokes his hair and murmurs to him in a mixture of French and English. She thinks he probably is not even aware of her presence, but his hand grips hers so tightly that it hurts, and he does not loosen his grip until long after the potion Madam Pomfrey brings sends him back into unconsciousness.

He wakes properly in the first light of morning, and she feels him stir and comes to sit on the bed beside him, smiling down at him.

He puts out a hand to touch her face, his eyes wide and wondering.

"You are – so – beautiful." His voice is slurred and halting, and she can tell that every word hurts.

She smiles again and bends to kiss him very gently. "'Ush, chéri," she whispers. "Do not try to talk."

He lets his hand fall back, and moves his head restlessly on the pillow. Fleur can tell from the darkness in his eyes and his hold on her hand that the pain is bad, but it is not that which is bothering him most.

"Ginny?" he whispers urgently. "Ron? Are they okay?"

Fleur smoothes his hair and runs her fingers gently down the small strip of undamaged skin at the side of his face.

"Zey are fine," she assures him. "No one was 'urt badly in ze fight apart from you."

She hopes he will not notice the _"in the fight"_, or will think it is just an odd French turn of phrase. She does not want to have to tell him about Professor Dumbledore yet. He tries to smile at her reassurance, but the small movement elicits a gasp of pain, and his hand tightens on hers.

"Sshh, love, shh." She tries to soothe him with her voice and her hands, and eventually she feels him relax as he falls back into unconsciousness.

-

That first day Bill is aware of very little. He drifts in and out of consciousness, and when he wakes cannot remember what is real and what he has dreamt. He thinks that someone has told him that Dumbledore is dead, but knows that cannot be true. Dumbledore is an institution, like Gringotts, or like Hogwarts itself; he cannot be dead. And he is told over and again that Ginny and Ron are fine and uninjured, but will not truly believe it until his father goes and finds them in the Gryffindor common room and brings them to the hospital wing so that he can see for himself. Ginny kisses him and says he is not to worry about them – sounding very like their mother in both what she says and how she says it – and Ron squeezes his hand and tells him gruffly to get better soon. Bill is calmer after that, and spends most of the rest of the evening and night asleep, aided by the potions Madam Pomfrey brings at regular intervals.

The next day, he feels stronger, and the pain has diminished to more manageable proportions. He even makes it to the bathroom, leaning heavily on his father's arm, although the fifty feet or so feels like several miles. It is not until he is safely back in bed that he realises that someone had considerately spelled the bathroom mirrors black so that he could not see his face. But sooner or later, he will have to, and he would rather it was sooner. It cannot be worse than he is imagining, although the look on his father's face and his mother's wet eyes when she looks at him tell him it must be bad enough.

He has to fight for it. His mother starts crying again at the mere suggestion that he might be given a mirror, and his father looks worried and murmurs something about "in a day or two". Even Madam Pomfrey wants him to wait until he is stronger, but Bill is adamant. He wants to know how bad this is, and he wants to know now. Fleur – of course – backs him up, and is her refusal to be moved on the issue, when Bill himself has given up arguing in a mixture of exhaustion and frustration, that finally makes Madam Pomfrey give way. She tuts and shakes her head, but goes off to her office in search of a mirror.

Bill leans back on his pillows and wonders if he has the energy to tell his parents that he really would prefer it if they left Fleur and him alone for this. Perhaps his father guesses what he is thinking, because he puts his arms around his wife's shoulders and draws her away from the bed.

"I think Bill would rather not have an audience for this," he says quietly, and for a wonder Bill's mother does not argue, but lets herself be led away towards the end of the ward.

Madam Pomfrey returns carrying a rectangular mirror, which she hands to Fleur with a slightly disapproving look on her face.

"I'll be in my office," she says shortly, drawing the screen around the bed and leaving the two of them alone.

Bill lets out a breath that he had not realised he was holding, and Fleur comes to sit on the bed. But when he puts out his hand to take the mirror, she shakes her head and puts her own hand over his to stop him.

"Wait," she says. Bill cannot believe it. Fleur was on his side, arguing his corner. Now she is the one telling him to wait. If he had the strength, he would yell at her in sheer frustration, but he does not, so he contents himself with closing his eyes and muttering, "What?"

She serenely ignores his irritation. "You 'ave to promise me somesing, chéri," she says.

"What?" he says again, opening his eyes.

Fleur puts out her hand and strokes his hair gently. Her face is very serious. "You 'ave to promise me zat when you 'ave seen, you will not ask me to leave you."

Bill is suddenly and unexpectedly more frightened than he has ever been in his life before. He tries to smile – although smiling hurts – and to make a joke of it.

"It's that bad, is it?" he asks, but Fleur does not smile.

"Promise me," she says quietly, and Bill knows he has no choice.

"Okay," he says. "I promise."

Fleur smiles then, somewhat sadly, and turns to sit beside him on the bed, so that when he lifts the mirror he will see her face reflected next to his. He takes a deep breath, and turns the mirror over and looks. After a minute or so, Fleur reaches out and tries to take the mirror from him, but he shakes her hand off and continues to look. The ward is very quiet; Fleur wishes he would cry, say something, react somehow…

After a full three minutes, she feels him beginning to shake and gasp. The mirror slips unregarded from their hands and crashes onto the floor. Fleur pulls Bill into her arms and holds him as he cries.


	48. Lakeside

_Lakeside_

Bill is tired of people telling him not to go, that he isn't up to this. He has had enough of the hospital wing, of being ill, of not making his own choices. He is going to the funeral, and then he and Fleur are going _home_.

But he is weaker than he cares to admit, and is glad of Fleur's arm supporting him as they make their slow way along the corridor and down the staircase. His parents and the twins are waiting for them in the entrance hall. He has not seen Fred and George since the attack, and he sees the shock on their faces as they look up and see his scars for the first time. He cannot blame them. He still feels like that himself whenever he catches a glimpse of his altered face in the mirror. (He does not _look_ any more – that first time was enough.)

Still, the twins being the twins, they cannot help making a joke of it. Fred punches him lightly on the arm when he and Fleur reach them and says, "Well, at least no one can deny that I'm the best looking Weasley now!" Fleur and his mother glare at Fred, but Bill doesn't mind. If the twins are making jokes, then things are normal, and "normal" is something he could do with more of right now. All the same, he is uncomfortably aware of the twins following him and Fleur closely on the way down to the lakeside, knowing that they are watching him, worrying about him. (Which isn't right – he is their elder brother, and they are the ones who get into trouble all the time. It should be him worrying about them.) But he is grateful for George's hand grabbing his arm when he does stumble, and more so for the quiet, "Steady! It's a bit early in the day to be drunk!" which accompanies it and makes light of his weakness.

They reach the ranks of chairs by the lakeside and Bill and Fleur follow his parents into a row. The twins slide into some chairs behind them. A man and woman whom Bill does not know come to the end of the row and look along it as if they will sit there. Bill sees the woman start and stare as she sees his face, her mouth open in a mixture of revulsion and fascination. She touches the man's arm and says something, and they move to sit elsewhere. Bill is surprised at how much this hurts. He is not stupid; he had expected people to react to his scars, but he had not realised how bad he would feel when it happened. Fleur is glaring at the couple with a mixture of anger and contempt, and he feels her hand tighten on his. He smiles at her gratefully, and she drops her head onto his shoulder. She does not say anything. There is nothing to say. They are both going to have to get used to this.

The funeral begins, and Bill tries to concentrate, to follow what is happening. But his scars are hurting, and the sun is too bright after days indoors, and he cannot really believe that this is happening. Perhaps it is because he was unconscious when the news came or because he did not hear the phoenix lament as the others did, but Dumbledore's death still seems remote and unreal to him. He tunes out the words of the presiding wizard and looks at the others in the crowd instead. He sees Ron and Ginny amongst the crowd of students near the front, and on the other side Percy, part of the Ministry delegation. Suddenly and unexpectedly, he wishes that Charlie was there.

There is a flash, and a white marble tomb appears where Dumbledore's body lay. It is over. Bill becomes aware that Fleur is crying quietly beside him and puts his arm around her and draws her close. She recovers quickly enough and wipes her eyes, pulling away from him and giving him a watery smile.

"I am sorry," she says. "That was stupide of me. I barely even knew 'im, but 'e was kind to me during ze tournament." She wipes her eyes, and looks at Bill worriedly. "I should go and speak wiz Madame Maxime," she says. "Will you be alright wizout me for a few minutes, chéri?"

Bill suppresses his irritation at the way she thinks he needs looking after every minute and smiles. "I'll be fine," he assures her. She walks away and disappears behind a group of people, leaving him alone.

Suddenly, the crowd parts and someone approaches. He hears a gasp and finds himself face to face with Percy, who is regarding him with horror and dismay. Bill gets to his feet slowly, totally at a loss as to what to say. He is torn between wanting to greet his brother and wanting to hit him. But Percy gives him the chance to do neither. He stammers something incomprehensible, turns on his heel and struts off. Bill feels the world spinning around him and puts out his hand to the back of the nearest chair to stop himself from falling. There is a touch on his arm, and his mother is beside him, looking concerned.

"Bill dear?" she says. "Sit down. You'll be alright in a minute." He lets her help him into a chair, all the while wondering if she too saw Percy. But she says nothing about it, merely patting his arm and looking at him worriedly as she sits down beside him. "There's my brave boy," she murmurs, and he laughs.

"Mum!" he protests. "I'm not six!"

His mother chuckles shamefacedly, and dabs at her eyes. "I know, dear," she admits. "But you're always my little boy, you know. All of you are…" her voice trails off and Bill sees her looking in the direction Percy disappeared in.

"He'll come back, Mum," he says quietly. "Sooner or later. You brought us up too well, you and Dad, for him to be a prat forever."

His mother's mouth twists and her eyes flood with tears and she leans forward and kisses him. "I hope so, dear," she says.

Suddenly, Bill is aware that Fleur is beside him, her hand on his shoulder. His mother looks up at her. "Take care of him, won't you?" she asks, and Bill's protests are forestalled by Fleur's calm and confident, "Of course I shall," as he stands and takes her hand in his.

They are going home.


End file.
